Purple Lightning
by ScootyBooty
Summary: When four internet friends get transported into there favorite video game and are tasked with helping to stop Gray Mann, what adventures will they have? Will they get home? And what are these medallions for exactly? Reviews Welcomed.
1. Meet the Purple Team

Chapter 1: Meet the Purple Team

After coming home from there respected lives, the four friends immediately went to their computers and laptops. Savannah, never one to wait in a situation like this, started the Skype call. As they all answered they shared a quick conversation about their day.

"… I had to stop myself from eating the cookies. They looked so good!" Stella admitted, telling the events that happened at the bakery she works at. The 19 year old was currently sitting at her laptop in her bed room. She brushed a strand of brown, blond tipped hair out of her face as her bright blue eyes watched the screen.

"I couldn't have your job; I would want to eat everything." Catie chimed in. The 14 year old was currently at her home computer, her iPad providing the Skype call. She was playing with a strand of her wavy bleach-blond hair that reached past her shoulders and down her back a few inches, baby blue eyes sparkling at the thought of so many sweets.

"OH! Guys, I found a good server! Anyone want to go to Rottenburg?" Savannah asked, ready to start a round in Team Fortress 2 on a Mann vs. Machine server. Her ever present gold-blond curly pony tail was keeping her hair out of her green-grey eyes behind the glasses she wore as she looked on at the screen. After feeding her cats the 14 year old had run upstairs, not even bothering to put her messenger bag down at the door like normal.

"YES!" Dream almost yelled exited for the match. Plus, it was everyone's favorite map. Her chocolate brown eyes glancing up at her door hopping that her parents didn't hear her yell. Hearing nothing the 16 year old turned back to her screen, her medium length jet black hair flicking back into place.

As the server loaded for all the girls, they choose their classes. Savannah went with Pyro as normal. Dream put on the Kritzkrieg and chose Medic. Stella normally would be Sniper, her best class, but she always does terribly in MvM as a Sniper, so for now she chose Engineer. Catie, meanwhile, chose Soldier.

As time passed the group continually won wave after wave, when finally, they got to the last and most difficult wave.

They had already failed 3 times by now but they refused to give up! They were getting closer and closer each time! Starting the round again, they fought the hardest they had all night they were so close, only a little more and victory would be theirs!

The robots where currently holding them at spawn, right next to the bomb hatch. Stella's sentry was working over time, continuously firing a stream of bullets and rockets toward the horde of robots. Stella was right next to it, banging it with her wrench, the Southern Hospitality, also spy-checking everything.

"Get those uber-medics!" Dream called as the robots continued to flood through. She then got her shield built up and activated it, vaporizing any robots that came close. She glanced at the corner of her screen: 87% on her uber-charge meter.

"Don't worry; I got 'em!" Savannah replied as she air blasted the giant robots away, using a crit-canteen to uber-charge herself, making the soldier-bot's rockets useless. She then used her flamethrower to ignite the medic's and then began hitting them with her ax, the 3rd Degree.

"I need help with these giant Demoknights!" Catie cried as the aforementioned robots charged at her with Eyelanders ready to decapitate her.

"I'm coming!" Dream replied, finally getting a kritz uber-charge and using it on Catie. Her rocket launcher glowed and sparked as the robots fell.

Catie ended up getting the final kill, a giant scout-bot that was about to deploy the bomb. The victory music sounded as the girls all cheered!

"Fuck yeah, finally!" Savannah cheered, fist pumping in her chair, then quieted down, hopping she didn't wake up her dad. She suddenly noticed that it was raining outside. _When did that start?_ She thought. She then dismissed the thought; it had been really cloudy that day anyway.

"Ah! Hold on guys I got a weather alert message on my phone." Stella announced. "I may drop out of the call. It says 'Severe thunder storm warning' for my area" she continued.

"Same for me. It was on the news this morning. It started raining really hard a while ago" Dream added. She jumped a little in her seat when she heard thunder not a second later.

Thunder then sounded through the Skype call again, sounding like it was right over head for everyone, rattling their houses.

"Ummm…. Maybe we should end the call now?" Catie muttered, worried. Thunder storms in Texas could get really bad.

Savannah was about to say something when thunder BOOMED though the Skype call from her end. She could then be heard screaming, the call dropping her a second later.

"SAVANNAH!?" Catie screamed, jumping up from her chair, now incredibly worried for her best friend. Thunder sounded from her end, soon followed by her screaming, then dropping out of the call.

At this point Dream and Stella are terrified. What was happening? They tried calling Savannah and Catie back many times, but they received no answer. Still panicking they tried to make sense of all of it hoping that their friends where okay.

Thunder echoed from Dream's end of the call, making her shriek, then scream, just like the others before dropping from the call, ending it in the process.

Stella stared at her screen in utter disbelieve. She had no words, how could she? As she was trying to piece things together in her head, she heard thunder over head. Stella froze. No, not her, what is even going on!?

She had little time to think as lightning suddenly struck her house, traveling through the wirers and in to the laptop that was plugged in to charge in her lap. Her last thought was sheer terror before she blacked out.

((((****LINEBREAK****))))

As Stella came to, she noticed that she was laying face first in dry dirt. She tested her arms, seeing if they would lift her up. When the test was successful, she then tested her legs and stood up, wobbling a bit. When she got her balance she looked around to find she was in a desert. The sun was setting over the horizon making the whole seen quite beautiful.

Stella had little time to appreciate the beauty when she suddenly heard groaning near her. Looking down she saw three other girls surrounding her. She suddenly recognized them to be her friends she was just playing with. She immediately went to check if they where okay.

As they all got up, picking up any belongings that may have come with them, and finding no injuries on themselves, they began to question their current situation.

"Maybe we died and this is some kind of purgatory" Savannah suggested, adjusting her messenger bag on her shoulder, always the one to think outside the box like that. The others gave her a look, which promptly shut Savannah up realizing that she was not helping.

"Savannah, please be realistic. This is a serious situation! We have no idea where we are, no food or water, no shelter, and a rocket is HEADING RIGHT FOR US!" Stella started to rant but quickly faded into yelling as, indeed, there was a rocket heading straight for them.

"DUCK AND COVER!" Catie yelled as all the girls ran or jumped away, the force of the blast knocking them even further away.

As they gathered there bearings they discovered the source of the rocket. And it made them completely speechless.

About 30 yard away was a fort, and not just any fort, it was Coal Town, a map that the girls played on regularly. They were at the back end, near the spawn, and had a perfect view of the robots they were just fighting about to deploy the bomb. They recognized five mercenaries that where there: Scout, Soldier, Pyro, Demoman, and Spy.

All of them where doing there best to stop the robots with there weapons but where being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers coming toward them and where on the verge of defeat.

The girls stared shocked, not knowing what to do. They where IN Team Fortress 2? How!? This only made the girls even more confused on their situation.

But that is not what got them moving again it was Dream who finally realized what she was seeing.

"They need help!" she squeaked, worried for the men.

"Yeah, but what can we do?" Stella asked, "We have no training, no weapons, and no idea what's even happening to us!" She started to panic a bit not knowing if they would even be alright.

"Well, we have to do SOMETHING!" Savannah cried, scared out of her mind, thinking that if the mercs couldn't win they would be next.

Suddenly, as if to answer their pleas, there was a purple flash that filled their vision. They suddenly felt calm, like everything would work out. That is when they felt themselves change.

Catie's clothes changed into ones that bore resemblance to Soldiers, although more feminine for her body. Her shoes changed into boots similar to the Gunboats, a helmet appearing on her head. Her hair, normally down, was now in a neat bun at the base of her neck. Her hands where now covered in fingerless gloves. The Soldier patch on the shoulder remained unchanged, save for the lightning bolt striking through it. She was noticeably taller, about 5' 8", looking in her late twenties now. A shovel was holstered on her back as well as a shotgun. In her hands was a rocket launcher.

Savannah's clothes merged in to a flame retardant suit, covering her entire body. A black mask with an air filter on the front was covering her face. She was obviously taller as well, now 5' 7", though her age could not be determined. On her back was an oxygen tank, a fire ax and a shotgun, holstered on her left hip was a flare gun. A flamethrower materialized in her hands. The Pyro emblem on the shoulder had a lightning bolt through it.

Dream's jacket turned into the white coat of the Medic, bone saw holstered at one hip, syringe gun on the other, a modified Medigun in her hands. A surgical mask now was now covering her face. The Medic patch on the shoulder now had a lightning bolt through it too. She was taller, about 5'6", and noticeably older, looking in her early thirties. Her hair was in a neat bun at her neck.

Stella's clothes changed into that of the Sniper's, a slouch hat on her head. In the normally vacant pouch to her side was a small koala plush. An SMG was holstered at her hip, and kukri was on the other, a sniper rifle now in her hands. It the small backpack she now wore was a jar of yellow liquid. The Sniper patch on the shirt also had a lightning bolt through it. She looked older as well, about in her late twenties, her height only increasing an inch. Her hair, normally down, was now in a low pony tail.

There was a distinct purple coloring to their clothes, and around there necks where purple medallions that had their class emblem on it.

They said nothing, an almost unconscious message going through their minds, telling them what they could do.

The girls all nodded to each other and jumped the fence, Dream tailing the medigun-beam on Catie and Savannah, to help the mercs, and just in time too. A giant scout-bot was about to deploy the bomb when Stella shot a bullet straight through the robots head, the sound of the gun echoing loudly through the area.

"Sniper!?" Scout shouted, looking towards the source of the shot along with the others.

To the surprise of the mercenaries, instead of seeing at their Australian friend, like they expected, they saw a young woman clad in purple holding Sniper's same weapons standing next to the respawn shack.

Instead of shouting anything, Stella simply taunted the remaining robots by waving, a confident smirk on her face.

Immediately the robots began to flock to the woman, unaware that the other three girls were waiting inside the shack that Stella was standing next to. As soon as they got close enough, the gate shot up and Savannah came out of her hiding place and began to set the robots on fire. Not far behind was Catie who started to shoot rockets at the robots that were further away. Dream stayed in the shadows healing everyone when they got hurt.

Not questioning why these girls were helping, the other mercenaries simply reloaded and started killing the robots as well. It wasn't long before each robot was just a worthless pile of scrap metal.

"You know, you guys ain't bad at fighting, for a bunch of girls." Scout stated, emptying the used shells from his scattergun.

"We thank you for your help" Spy added but there was suspicion in his voice. Where did they even come from and more importantly who where they and why were they helping?

"You ladies are true soldiers!" Soldier shouted, saluting. He would never admit it, but he had been scared for his teammates, and before these women came he was about to call a retreat.

"Where did you ladies learn to fight like that?" Demo asked wanting to know where they came from as well.

But instead of getting an answer, all four girls collapsed to the ground, their bodies and clothes returning to normal. This left the other mercenaries in shock seeing what happened. They instantly took action and all lifted one of the girls, carrying them back to the main base. They defiantly would talk to them later, but right now the girls where the ones needing help and they had a favor to return.


	2. The Medallions

Chapter 2: The Medallions

When Savannah came to, her head was pounding with a headache and her perception was foggy. It was pitch black but she could hear the faint echo of voices. Oh, her eyes were just closed.

She scrunched up her face and tried to open her eyes. It was difficult but when she did she was met with blinding light. Groaning and quickly shutting her eyes, Savannah soon tried again.

Ever so slowly she opened her eyes. It hurt at first but as her eyes got used to the light she started to make out objects. First she noted the tile sealing; then she noticed that she hade a blanket covering her. When- oh… where were her clothes? She could still feel her bra and underwear, but not much else.

Who would- then everything came back. The storm, the fight, the mercenaries, oh man, that was a lot to take in all at once. Savannah groaned again at the onslaught of memories.

"Mhh thunn shess erweerk (I think she's awake)" mumbled a voice.

Savannah glanced over to see the gas-masked face of Pyro sitting next to her bed looking at her curiously. It was the strangest thing though, she understood Pyro, like, clearly, as if Pyro was talking without the mask.

"Huh?" Was all Savannah could muster before she saw another figure in her line of vision. It was Demoman holding small bundle of clothes, Soldier right behind him closing the door.

"I wouldn't get up if I were you." Demoman said, "And don't freak out, we had to take your clothes off to clean them." He set the clothes down on the near by table.

That calmed Savannah down, and she openly sighed in relief. She slowly began sitting up and then sat back on the head board. Looking around the room she saw her friends lying in the other beads, sleeping contently.

The room remained quiet for a few more moments, Savannah alternating between resting her eyes and looking around the room. Pyro strangely stayed by her bed, using crayons to draw on paper, occasionally showing her, not that Savannah minded, it was welcome company. Plus, it was just down right adorable.

It wasn't long before the other girls woke up. They almost freaked out over not wearing any clothes, but where soon calmed down by Savannah.

As Dream sat up she looked around the room. Spotting the three mercenaries present, she took note on the fact that Scout was absent from the room. Remembering that she was half naked she figured out why very quickly.

As they got up they used the blankets to cover themselves and discreetly began putting their clothes back on underneath.

"We couldn't take your necklaces off though." Soldier finally said, ending the silence, not so much shouting as he normally would. He opened the door letting Scout in when the girls were dressed.

"Necklaces?" Catie asked

The girls felt around their necks and found the medallions, feeling the impressions to find that they matched the symbols of the classes that they became a while ago. Savannah was just wondering how she didn't feel it earlier.

"Do you think it was these that changed us earlier?" Catie asked, remembering the battle with the robots.

"It must be," Dream said, "How else would we have gained those skills?"

Suddenly the conversation was halted by the door slamming open and the sound of a revolver cocking. Spy was standing at the door, pointing his revolver at the girls.

Now, all of the girls considered themselves able to stay calm in almost any situation, and for the most part they did, expect Savannah. At the sight of the gun, she immediately screamed and backed up as far as she could, into the wall. She had only ever seen a gun up close a few times, and certainly had never had one pointed at her.

Spy, sensing an easier target, pointed the gun at Savannah, which caused her to roll into a little ball on the bed and start shaking.

"Spy! What the Hell are you doing!?" Soldier barked.

"I just got off the phone with Ms. Pauling, asking her where she found these replacements. She told me that she didn't recall hiring four women into this battle." Spy explained keeping the revolver trained on Savannah, hoping to get her to talk.

She just continued to shake, now rocking back and forth. In her head she was replaying a conversation she had had with her dad about handling having a gun pointed at you.

"Put the gun away, you're scaring her asshole!" Catie yelled, wanting to protect her friend.

But it was Pyro who stood up in front of Savannah, Pointing at Spy and saying something.

"Yerrr Skrrinn Hhhrr! Puuh Thrrr Guhhn Awhhr! (You're scaring her! Put the gun away!)" They shouted through the mask, just barely being understood. By now, Savannah could be herd sobbing just a little. She really had no idea why she was scared like this, but she was and from Pyro protecting her, she felt a little better.

"Lay off fancy pants! Ya want me ta cave ya skull in!?" Stella shouted, her Boston accent coming through at the end. Scout happen to catch it but decided to ask later.

Wanting the yelling to stop and to get the conversation somewhere, Demoman grabbed Spy's gun and put it in a near by drawer. Savannah peeked out and at seeing no gun, went and hugged Catie breathing shakily. It was only then that she noticed that her glasses were missing.

"I-I'm s-s-sor-r-r-y. I n-n-n-normal-ly d-don't act l-like t-that." Savannah stuttered shakily, trying to catch her breath and see where she was going.

"You don't need to be sorry; it's the damn Frenchi that needs to be sorry!" Scout turned to Spy "What the Hell was that about!" He got in Spy's face, trying to intimidate him.

"Did you not listen to me, boy? They are not employees of Mann Co." Spy pushed Scout out of his face and turned to the girls. At his look Savannah flinched. She was going to be on edge around him for a while.

"Who are you and why are you here" Spy demanded.

"I am Stella" She started voice equally as strong "And we have no idea where we are or how we got here." She continued, voice even toned, anger evident. She stood strait and walked to stand in front of the masked rouge, staring him in the eyes.

Spy knew how to spot a liar, and looking in Stella's eyes, he could tell that she was not lying.

"I apologies mademoiselle" He backed up but he still had his suspicions. Stella did as well, going to see if her traumatized friend was okay.

"I-I'm fine, r-really" Savannah insisted "But where are my glasses? I can't see a damn thing"

"Heeer (Here)" Pyro handed Savannah her glasses. She smiled, put them on and thanked them. Weird, she could still understand them; maybe it was the medallions doing. Pyro then looked at Spy and gave him a look that said _Stay away_, it even showed through the mask making Spy shudder.

Dream spoke up "Umm… now that that is over, I'm Dream, and we are trying to get home. If it's not too much to ask, perhaps you can help us? We don't want to cause any trouble." She spoke to Demoman in a sheepish voice.

"I think that all depends on where you live."The scot responded.

"Seattle Washington" She responded.

"I live an hour away from Boston" Stella answered.

"We live in Houston Texas" Savannah and Catie said together.

"Ya see," Stella started "we where playing our favorite videogame, Team Fortress 2 during a thunder storm and lightning struck our houses and now we are in the game but now that I think about it maybe we are in an alternate reality of some kind" She spoke somewhat quickly, hopping that they would not brand her as insane.

She was met with blank looks and the mercenaries tried to process what she said.

"Video game, thunder storm, alternate reality, what are you talking about lass?" Demoman asked trying to understand the woman's words.

"The game is called 'Team Fortress 2'" Savannah spoke. "In a nutshell it's a game that shows what you guys go through on a daily basis, even before the robots started attacking."

"If our lives are truly a game, then how did you girls end up here?" Spy asked, trying to process how his life is just a game.

"That's what we'd like to know." Catie said letting Savannah out of the hug once she was sure her friend was okay.

"Like I said, the last thing I remember was a lightning bolt hitting my house and that somehow 'transporting' me into the world I've always fantasized about being in." Stella explained saying the last part to herself.

There was a brief silence as everyone toke in the new information. The mercenaries had a small existional crisis over there lives being just a game. It was soon over when they remembered the whole 'alternate reality' part. Still, it left even these harden mercenaries a bit shaken.

"Perhaps Merasmus has the answers?" Dream suggested. Really she had no idea if he would help, but that wizard was notorious for things of this nature.

"How do you know about Merasmus?" Soldier asked as if he had just listened in to the conversation.

"Have you been drinking water from the tap again and not from the bottles that Ms. Pauling has been giving you?" Stella asked, eyebrow raised at the patriot.

"Exactly how much do you know about us?" Spy asked.

The girls then proceeded to explain everything they knew about the mercenaries. They told of how some of the information that they knew came from online comics that were posted on the game's official website, how there were short videos that showed each mercenaries skills and personalities, and how they knew which properties belonged to which weapons and who specifically these weapons were for.

"Exactly how long have you been playing this game?" Demoman asked.

"About a couple moths or more for all of us." Stella answered

"So based on the information you've given us," Spy started "I would assume that you know which one of our colleagues will be joining us next."

"According to the recent comic, the next mercenary who will be joining you will most likely be Heavy." Dream theorized.

"Yeah, cuz dat's the first thing we need." Scout complained, "An open target for the robots that screams 'I'm a slow bastard, go ahead and fill me up wit lead!'" He threw his arms into the air in exaggeration.

"No." Stella interrupted, "The first thing you need is another heavy hitter. Especially if more than one tank enters the area."

"Actually I would assume that the first person they'd need is Engineer." Savannah said, standing up from the bed, "Remember when you'd always leave us after you'd play Engie? We'd get our ass handed to us after losing our good Engineer."

"Does this necklace thing look like a wrench to you?" Stella exclaimed pointing to her neck.

The room then fell into silence; the whereabouts of Engineer was still a mystery. If what Savannah said was true, the mercs felt little confidence that they would triumph against the robots in the next round.

"So uh..." Catie said breaking the silence, "Were we going to see Merasmus and ask him about these things?" she pointed to the medallion around her neck.

"Oh! Right!" Soldier said

"If I know your relationship with Merasmus," Stella said crossing her arms, "he wouldn't be too thrilled to see you after the suffering that you've put him through."

"Where is he even?" Savannah asked; her memory foggy from her gun scare.

"Merasmus is in prison." Spy explained seeing the girl flinch at his voice. Why did he feel bad at seeing that?

"In any case, I will go with you!" Soldier exclaimed.

"NO!" The mercenaries shouted at the same time.

This was followed by an awkward silence and Savannah clearing her throat.

"What I think they mean is that they need you to stay here with Pyro and Demoman in case any more of those robots appear."She said covering for them.

"Good idea private...private..." Soldier stuttered, "What was your name again?"

"I'm Savannah," She said introducing herself to the American, "And this is Catie." She pointed to the girl next to her. She was still speaking quieter than normal but her confidence was slowly returning to her.

After the small introduction, the girls, Spy, and Scout piled into Spy's car and began heading to the prison that held Merasmus. Savannah made sure to sit far away from Spy, still not trusting him.

After a few minutes of driving in silence, they arrived at the Teufort Penitentiary.

"You ladies go on ahead." Spy said as the girls got out of the car, "Scout and I will wait for you in the car." Said 23 year old was in the passenger side looking grumpy.

"Bad memories from when you were almost hanged?" Catie asked the runner in a smug voice.

"You can shut ya mouth right now." Scout retorted, not wanting to think about how true she was.

They all went inside the prison and asked the guard present to see the wizard.

"What business do you have with him?" The guard asked.

"We wanted to ask him a few questions." Stella explained.

The guard, having led poisoning from the water like everyone else in Teufort, thought the explanation was good enough and let them through.

The girls where directed to the visiting booth where they could talk to Merasmus without being disturbed. Minutes later he appeared in front of him with a confused look, soon picking up the phone.

"Who are you and how do you know about the all powerful and all knowing Merasmus?" He asked, talking to Stella.

"If you were 'all knowing' then you would have known not to check for a pulse on the man that Soldier killed, and if you were 'all powerful' you would have used your magic to get out of here." Stella said into the phone, "We know about you from the already mentioned Soldier."

"Oh, are you his new 'friends'? Trust me; the friendship will not last long." Merasmus said in a deadpan voice.

Stella rolled her eyes and then proceeded to explain the situation the girls were in with Merasmus and showed him the medallions that hung around their necks, asking if these were something of his creation.

"I don't recall creating medallions such as those. Perhaps whatever force brought you here gave those to you." Merasmus explained. However, this story did sound familiar. He definitely was going to read into this later.

"So...we're dealing with bullshit magic right now." Savannah moaned. This was just like those crappy fanfictions she has read on websites! Or like a Magical Girl anime. She didn't know which was worse.

"Pardon?"

"You know, when someone has a specific magic that can't be explained or is never really explained at all."

Merasmus understood completely, having dealt with magic like that before. Now he knew why there story was familiar.

"Nevertheless, I hope that your quest to find your way home is a successful one."

"Now hold on wizard boy!" Catie yelled banging on the table, "If anyone is going to help us with this 'magical dilemma' it's gonna be you!"

"My dear girl, I would be happy to help, but the prison bars are what keep me from doing so." Meramsus explained. Might as well have a little fun teasing while he is here.

"We'll pay the bail money, we need you out here as soon as possible, and we'll even pay for a new castle if we have to!" Stella proposed.

"Are you sure we can do that Stella?" Savannah whispered to the older girl.

"Hey, those robots drop money when they die, I'm sure we can collect enough to get him out of here." She reminded her friend.

"Very well," Merasmus said, "If you can get me out of here, I will help you with your struggles." A favor for a favor after all. Plus; he really wants to get out of this idiotic place.

"Thank you, oh and one last thing." Stella said.

"Yes?" Merasmus asked.

"We'll be sure to kick Soldier in the privates when we get back to him." Stella said, "Multiple times." She didn't mean any harm, but anything to get him on their side.

"Thank you." Merasmus said smiling, hanging up the phone, and returning to his cell.

After the drive to the base just outside of Teufort, the girls returned to the other mercenaries and explained what Merasmus had told them.

"Also, Soldier, if Merasmus asks, I kicked you very hard." Savannah said. "I promised him I would to that for but I don't actually want to do it." After all, she had respect for Soldier.

"Now that that is over" Catie started "We should start our search for the other mercenaries soon." They would definitely need all the help they could get.

"Especially Dell..." Stella said quietly, "He's going to be the most important out of the whole team." She honestly didn't know if all of them could beat the robots.

"We seem to be doing pretty well now." Dream mentioned, and it was true, the girls had done well fighting the robots the first time.

"True as that may be; you girls could still be arrested for fighting in a man's war." Demoman said.

"First: that was incredibly sexist," Savannah hissed. Sexism was one of her biggest pet peeves.

"And second: we technically weren't born in this time period." Stella finished.

"Wha' d'ya mean?" Scout asked.

"It's the 1970's, correct?" Savannah asked. When met with a yes she continued "I was born in 1999. We where all born in the 90's" at this there was a pause before Spy spoke up.

"What year were you currently living in before you came here?" he asked. Savannah didn't answer immediately, as she was still wary around the espionage expert. Catie, luckily, saw this and answered for her.

"2014" Catie said. As proof they held out there phones, all touch-screen smart phones. This left the older men puzzled for a while and after more explanations of the technology and a discovery that they still had internet access (which Savannah blamed on more bullshit magic), the sun had finally dipped below the horizon.

"It's getting late." Savannah said, "Is there a place we could stay for the night?"

"You girls are welcome to stay wit me if you'd like." Scout said trying to give a seductive look. It was mostly toward the older girls, Dream and Stella.

"I'm going with Spy." Stella said seeing the look but choosing to ignore it.

"I'll go with Pyro." Savannah said. She didn't see the look. Savannah had always been oblivious to flirting and really preferred the direct approach.

"I-I think I'll stick with Demoman." Dream stuttered. While she liked Scout as a friend, he just wasn't her type.

The three girls went off with their respective mercenaries leaving Scout with a disappointed look on his face. He crossed his arms and looked away, his pride wounded.

"I'll go with you Scout." Catie said.

"Ya will?" Scout asked, full of joy. Catie nodded then followed Scout to his place, leaving Soldier to patrol the empty battle field.

((((LINEBREAK))))

_Meanwhile in an undisclosed location. _

Grey Mann was his office looking over the footage the Spy-bots captured from the battle earlier that day, disgusted and furious at what he saw.

"I build you to be the ultimate in combat robots, yet you managed to be defeated by mere girls!?" Grey shouted towards the present robots.

"**It wasn't our fault! They appeared out of nowhere!"** One of the Scout bots stuttered in defense. This one happen to be one of the only ones to survive but just barely, coming out with a missing left forearm,

"That gives no excuse for what I have witnessed on these screens!" Grey shouted "Clearly you pieces of scrap need to be upgraded!" It was almost an insult to his intelligence to say that.

He then looked back at the screen that where transmitting footage from the Spy-bots, and heard the girls conversing over Merasmus and how his knowledge of magic could help them.

"It appears we have another target as well." Grey said to himself, soon turning to his robots. "Go get yourselves fixed and prepare for tonight, we're going to eliminate this 'Merasmus' and make sure that those damn mercenaries don't get any more outside help."

The robots left the room as Grey turned to his computers and began making a few plans. As he typed he eventually found an old plan left forgotten in a random folder. As he continued to read what he had typed long ago a cruel grin came to his face.

"Heheheh, Watch out Mercenaries, you'll soon be in for a big surprise! Hahahah!"


	3. The Limit of the Medallions

Chapter 3: The Limit of the Medallions and News to Siberia

Stella had followed Spy to his second home near the town of Teufort, a small little house filled with only the finest essentials. Stella was about to question how he managed to buy this place, but then she remembered that with the job he had, money was not an issue.

"Make yourself at home Stella." Spy said as he allowed her to enter first.

"You don't have to be formal with me." Stella replied "You'll learn soon enough not to treat me like a lady, because there is almost nothing lady like about me."

"I could tell by your choice of clothing." He responded, having already taken note of Stella's casual costume of a tee-shirt, jeans, and sneakers.

"Hey, do you mind if I give you a nickname?" Stella asked, "It's a little boring just calling you Spy." She sat down in one of the seats at the table.

"What do you have in mind?" Spy asked curiously.

"Well, it's kind of silly but what about 'Spooky'. Since it's really spooky how you're able to kill someone and get away without ever being discovered." Stella explained.

Spy gave a look of disapproval; he felt like that nickname was something Sniper would give him. _How fitting_ he thought since her medallion gave her the same skill as that repulsive bushman.

"I don't really approve of this name," Spy stated. "But if that is what you are comfortable with, then I will accept it."

"Thanks Spooky!" Stella gleefully said.

Spy rolled his eyes at how quickly she grew attached to this name. For most of the night, the two decided to talk casually to each other. They explained what their favorite foods were, their favorite movies and hobbies, basic conversations that would break the ice. Stella was going to mention the gun scare that happened with Savannah but she felt it best to save for a later date.

"What do you think happened to Engie?" Stella finally asked.

The room fell to a hush as Spy lit another cigarette, inhaling then releasing a puff of smoke. He leaned back in his chair.

"I am not sure," Spy explained, "Perhaps he got a new job somewhere."

"Where though?"

"I do not know."

Spy took another inhale from his cigarette, the smoke causing Stella to cough a little.

"Would you prefer if I went outside?" Spy asked.

"Nah, you're good," Stella said, "My grandmother smokes so I'm used to it."

Spy nodded then returned to his habit. Stella got up and went to a mirror to get a closer look at her medallion, noticing all the details about it. It was a deep purple, the Sniper emblem carved out of a mystery stone. It was smooth as well, almost having a glassy texture.

"This thing is what gave me my skills right?" Stella asked quietly, the gravity of the situation starting to hit her.

"That's what I believe." Spy confirmed.

"I wonder if these things have some kind of a power limit." Stella thought out loud.

Suddenly the two were startled by the sound of an explosion off in the distance. They looked out the window to find that the prison was under attack by Gray Mann's robots.

"We've got to help them!" Stella said, placing her hand on her medallion expecting something to happen. When nothing did, she realized in horror that her earlier question was answered.

As they were heading to the prison and met up with the others, the other girls found that they couldn't return to their forms in battle.

"What the absolute fuck is going on!?" Savannah asked, wanting to help the others in battle.

"I knew there was going to be a power limit to these things." Stella moaned, hating how she was right.

"So does that mean we have to sit this one out?" Catie asked.

"Looks like it." Dream replied.

"Wait a minute! I still have my weapons!" Savannah exclaimed as she dug into her bag and pulled out three 5 inch daggers and a butterfly knife.

"They let you take those weapons to school?" Stella asked, shocked at how her friend would bring weapons to school.

"It was for a project." Savannah explained, "Now shut up and start scraping metal!" She handed one of the daggers to each of her friends and expertly flipped the butterfly knife open.

The rest of the girls nodded and went to fight the robots with what little experience they had. Luckily for them the focus of the robots was on the mercenaries as they did not recognize the girls without their combat costumes on. As the girls snuck around trying to kill any robots, they quickly noticed that any damage they dealt to the robots were minimum as they still lacked the proper fighting skill compared to those of the mercenaries themselves. When the trials were over, both the mercenaries and the girls went to check on the prison that was now reduced to mere rubble.

"Any sign of Merasmus?" Demoman asked.

Everyone shook their heads to show that they found no luck in finding whatever was left of the wizard.

"Don't worry! If I know Merasmus, he's already found a way to escape before the robots completely trashed this place!" Soldier said optimistically.

"I just hope you're right," Stella exclaimed, "Because now we have an idea of what our limits are."

"Hey guys! I think I found him!" Scout yelled as he waved everyone over.

Everyone quickly flocked over and indeed found Merasmus under a pile of rubble, quickly digging him out before any more damage could be done.

"Are you okay?" Savannah asked as she helped him up.

"I'm fine" The wizard replied, still in the orange prison uniform, now standing on his own and brushing the dust of himself. They quickly got out of the area when they heard police sirens getting closer.

"We found out that there is a limit to the necklaces' power." Stella said to Merasmus.

"I knew that already."

"You did?" Catie asked.

"I did a little reading after returning to my cell, those medallions that hang around your neck have a very limited power source and can only be used once a day. Therefore you must be cautious as to when you transform." Mersamus explained.

"Hold on a second, how did you even find all this out?" Stella asked. "You didn't have access to any books or any magical artifacts when you were in there!"

"That my dear is something you should not worry your pretty little head over." Merasmus simply said, patting Stella on the head.

"Yeah okay," Savannah deadpanned, "This is the result of even more bullshit magic!" she combed her fingers through her hair in frustration at not having any answers.

"Regardless," Stella said interrupting her friend "We should just be thankful that Merasmus made it out okay." She pat Savannah on the back in an attempt to comfort her.

"That maybe true but we still have another problem!" Demoman spoke up, "If those robots decide to attack when you girls can't do anything, what are we supposed to do? We need all the help we can get right now."

"Yeah, an' no offense, but you fight like school girls." Scout said.

"And I do not think we can afford to wait for our other colleagues to arrive much longer." Spy added, mainly to himself.

"I will be willing to train you girls." Soldier exclaimed.

The girls thought about it for a second then went of to the side to talk together.

"What do you think we should do?" Stella asked.

"Well I think we should take the training," Catie said, "We don't really have that many options."

"Yeah but wouldn't Soldier be a little too intense for us? We aren't that 'physically active' after all." Savannah countered.

"He's surely put us through hell if that's the case." Dream agreed.

"But as Catie said, we don't have that many options." Stella added.

The girls then let out a long sigh then finally coming to an agreement and returned to Soldier.

"We accept." Dream stated, noting the happiness in Soldier's eyes under his helmet.

"We start in the morning!" He shouted. Already in his head, he was coming up with the starting routine. He had little experience dealing with training woman, but if Sun Tzu could do it, than so could he.

Everyone bid farewell and returned to their homes for the night. As they all fell asleep, they worried for the future. They just hoped that everything would go smoothly.

(((LINEBREAK)))

_Siberia_

Heavy walked through the door to his home, the wind blowing in a bit of snow. He shut it and called out.

"(I'm back.)"

"(Ivan! Get over here now!)" His big sister, Katyuska yelled from the kitchen. Oh no, she only used that voice when she was angry. The question was; why was she angry?

Heavy set down the box he was carrying on the ground and walked into the kitchen. Heavy's little sister, Natalya, was sitting at the table, a cup of warm water in her hands. Katyuska was standing at the table, arms crossed and a stern look on her face.

"(Hello Ivan, I just got of the phone with a woman. Do you want to know what that woman's name was?)" Heavy already knew, and he didn't like it. He asked any way.

"(….Who?)"

"(My English is a little rusty but I believe she said her name was 'Miss Pauling' and she continued to tell me how your old job needs you.)" Katyuska walked up to her brother. She was shorter but still held the intimidation in her eyes.

"(I can't go back. You know this, I need to help you.)" Heavy tried to retort. Katyuska just continued to glare at him. She sighed, uncrossed her arms and put her hands on her brothers shoulders.

"(Ivan, listen to me. I love you so much, I could not ask for a better family. But there are people out there that _need _you so much more than we do. Miss Pauling told me that there are now teenagers fighting. _Teenagers_.") Katyuska could feel the tears coming in her eyes. ("Me and Natalya want you to go help them, your friends. Please.")

She was crying as she hugged Heavy, Natalya got up from the table and joined the hug. She wasn't crying but she was noticeably sad.

Heavy hugged them back. He though it over, and finally came to his decision.

"(Allright, I will go. Please be safe while I'm gone.)" They broke the hug and Natalya spoke for the first time.

"(We will big brother. Go help your friends.)"

Heavy went over to the phone and dialed the number he had memorized so long ago. He held the phone up to his ear as it rang. After the 4th ring the voice he had been wanting to hear answered.

"Hello, Miss Pauling speaking."


	4. Progress on the Front

Chapter 4: Progress on the Front

It was morning; the sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon. Catie was sleeping contently, not having any dreams, but peaceful nonetheless. She turned over in her bed ready to fall into a deep sleep again when the sound of a bugle made her shoot up into a sitting position.

"If you ladies want a taste of victory you're going to have to wake up at the CRACK of dawn!" She heard out side the door. Oh, yeah. Soldier's training was today. Joy.

Catie decided it best to just get up. Getting out of bed, she stretched and popped a few stiff joints. Quickly getting dressed she headed out side where she saw her friends looking dead. Joining the line she quickly jostled Savannah awake before the blonde fell asleep standing up.

"You ladies want to fight with the men then you'll have to train like the men!" Soldier barked, marching in front of them, keeping an eye on all four of the girls.

"Let me guess, for the first step we're going to have to do 20 push-ups?" Stella asked a bit sarcastically, putting her iPhone on iTunes Radio.

Soldier stopped and turned toward Stella, noticing what she was doing and was immediately intrigued.

"What are you doing Private Stella?" He asked walking up to her.

"Just trying to find some music to train to." She explained, putting one ear-bud in, "If I'm going to be training hard, I might as well have something to keep me motivated."

"I am all the motivation you will need! Now put that alien contraption away!"

Stella sighed then put away her iPhone; a little annoyed that he called it an 'alien contraption' when the girls clearly told him that they were probably from a combination of the future and an alternate plane of existence.

"Now I want all of you to drop and give me fifty!" Soldier barked.

The girls obeyed and dropped to the floor and started doing push ups, some of them struggling a little to get even ten.

"We are clearly out of shape for this." Catie said.

"We spend most of our time sitting on our asses and playing video games when we're not at school or work." Savannah stated out of breath, "Of course we're gonna be out of shape."

"I sometimes go for daily walks when it's nice outside." Stella exclaimed, "And in the winter I always have to lift heavy amounts of snow to make it safe for me to get out of my driveway." Stella then smirked and looked to Catie and Savannah.

"Of course you wouldn't understand that since you rarely get snow where you're from. My area has better chances of getting snow days with our climate being just right and we always know what to do when there is snow fall."

"You can shut the fuck up right now." Savannah growled from the ground.

"I see your lips moving but not a lot of pushing ladies!" Soldier shouted.

"Alright, alright! Jeez, take a chill pill why don't ya?" Stella said, her Bostonian accent showing.

"Your Scout is leaking again Stella." Savannah pointed out smirking, knowing the 19 year old hated when it was mentioned.

"Shut yer face!" Stella shouted back.

Soldier then barked at all of them to keep their traps shut and began drilling them. He was sure to keep observant of there strengths and weaknesses, noting everything he could. Catie was strong and lasted quite awhile, but wasn't that fast. Dream was definitely fast, lasting longer than the others, but wasn't very strong. Stella was pretty even with everything and tended to conserve her energy. Savannah ended up being the fastest sprinter, almost rivaling Scouts speed, but tired out in a few seconds, her strength ending in the same way.

When they were finally done, the girls felt sore all over. From what he had seen, Soldier knew what he needed to do to train them.

"God that was painful..." Catie said, rubbing her sore muscles.

"Death is more painful." Dream moaned angrily, equally as tired.

"That is correct Private Dream!" Soldier said, patting her on the back hard, adding to the pain that she already had.

Scout suddenly ran into the room yelling.

"They here! They here! Grey's here!"

"Robots!?" Stella asked, almost sounding excited.

"Yeah! C'mon we need all th' help we can get!" Scout exclaimed again, going into the locker room and grabbing his scatter gun, Soldier following and grabbing his rocket launcher.

"Alright! We got some action!" Savannah shouted, ready for battle.

"Shall we try out our new battle cry?" Catie asked them.

"Battle cry?" Scout and Soldier asked, stopping near them.

The girls smiled then reached for their medallions.

"The thunder will roll, and we are the lightning!" The girls all shouted together, transforming into their respected classes.

"Let's get to it!" Stella shouted, sporting a faint Australian accent.

"Jawol!" Dream exclaimed, her voice having the same faint accent, but this time German.

"(Let them burn!)" Savannah shouted, her voice muffled from the mask.

"SCOOTY BOOTY!" Catie shouted, her voice a little rough, running passed Scout.

"Da' hell?" Scout thought out loud.

"It's nothing you need to worry your head over Scout," Stella said, "Come on, we need you out there too."

Everyone proceeded to run to the battle field. Spy, Demoman and Pyro were already doing their best to hold off as many robots as they could. The five then joined in the battle, hitting the robots with everything they got.

"This is almost too easy." Stella thought to herself as she looked through the scope. Suddenly she felt the need to take a bathroom break, knowing that there were no one around, she quickly went into her bag and pulled out an empty jar.

"At least this will help somewhat." Stella said quietly to herself as she ducked around the corner to fill the jar.

"Where the hell is that sniper!?" Demoman asked, coming back from a trip to respawn.

"How the hell should I know?" Spy replied, not paying attention and suddenly catching on fire from a Pyro-bot.

Stella heard Spy's cry as finished her business, zipping up her pants and running out to see where Spy was.

"Don't worry Spooky! I got you!" She said holding up the jar.

"Nonono! Wait!" Spy tried to protest wanting to burn rather than get covered in Jarate.

It was too late however, as Stella threw the jar, landing a hit on Spy, putting out the flames and covering the Frenchman in the golden liquid that came from the woman.

"Ugh! You are just as repulsive as the bushman himself!" Spy shouted up to Stella who was on the balcony.

"Is this how you always thank someone after they've saved you from burning to death?" Stella asked her new Australian accent showing a little.

Spy was about to reply when he barely got hit by a crocket from a giant Soldier-bot.

"No time to talk," Stella exclaimed, scoping in and shooting a giant Medic-bot in the distance. "Get back to kicking robot ass!"

Spy sighed, nodded, then cloaked, going forth and sapping the robots that got dangerously close to his team mates or the other girls. He especially made note as to protect Dream the most since she was the one who was healing everyone in place of the Medic himself. Spy quickly looked to check on the girl, seeing that a Spy-bot was getting a little too close. Acting quickly, Spy sapped the robot and made sure that Dream was safe.

"Dankeschön Herr Spy." Dream said.

How odd, Stella, Dream, and Catie from what he heard, were obtaining the accents of the classes that they were replacing. Spy wondered if this was a result of their second use of the medallions, and if so, how long would it be before they had full accents. These were questions for another day though.

"(Come on guys!)" Savannah shouted through her muffling mask, "(Only a few robots to go, then we can head home and take a hot shower!)"

Scout's eyes immediately widened as he ran ahead to beat a robot to death.

"Pervert..." Stella thought to herself as she started to shoot down the remaining robots that stood in the way.

Though she had to admit, she and the girls probably needed one from both the training that they went through and getting cover in ashes and motor oil from the robots.

The trials were soon over, the girls transformed back and everyone headed inside to take a shower.

"Alright let's do this!" Scout said about to strut in the shower.

"Hold it Bonk Boy!" Stella said, grabbing Scout's ear like a child. "You and the boys are going to wait your turn. Me and the girls are going first, and if I catch you being a peeping Tom you won't be seeing straight for weeks!" She threatened.

The tone in her voice was dead serious, as if she was giving a death threat. With that, Scout immediately backed off and waited in the other room with the other mercenaries. Once the shower was running the girls started to converse with each other about how they felt Soldier's training was, and how well they were becoming on the battle field.

"Don't worry Scout; there will be plenty of hot water when our turn comes." Spy said, grabbing some towels for himself and the other mercenaries. "Or are you just upset that you don't have the opportunity to see an actual see an actual naked woman in person instead of printed in a magazine." He teased.

"You still need to apologize for pointin' a gun at their faces earlier." Demoman said, as if defending the boy. "Not a very good way to make an impression."

The mercs continued to talk or argue with each other about their situation, when suddenly they heard a feminine voice that was familiar to them.

"Hello mercenaries." The voice chimed in, drawing the attention of the mercenaries to it.

"Hello Ms. Pauling!" Soldier said, saluting.

"Any news about our colleagues?" Spy asked.

"Heavy is on his way here and as soon as he arrives we'll be going to Germany to pick up Medic." Ms. Pauling explained. "Where are these girls that you mentioned on the phone?" She wanted to meet the girls that had saved one of the facilities in person.

"In da showers, won't let us near them." Scout groaned in disappointment.

"Thank you Scout." Ms. Pauling replied, heading to the showers and knocking.

"Scout, I'm giving you 5 seconds to run before come out there and kill you!" Savannah shouted.

"It's not Scout." Ms. Pauling said calmly, walking in a second later.

"Oh...umm" Stella stuttered, clearing her throat. "Hello Ms. Pauling." She quickly covered herself with a towel and held out her hand to shake.

"Hello. So you're the girls who helped us?" The assistant asked accepting the hand shake. The girls nodded then introduced themselves and explaining their situation thus far. As they were explaining they finished showering and began to get dressed.

"I see," Ms. Pauling stated, having her hand on her chin. "Well I hope you girls will be prepared for when Heavy arrives, because when he does we'll be flying to Germany to find Medic."

"He's probably in Rottenburg!" Dream stated, sounding rather excited.

"Do you know this from the game you play in your world?" Ms. Pauling asked, having understood their story.

"Yes Ms. Pauling." Catie said politely, putting on her shirt.

"Good, that will at least narrow our search."

"But, by how much?" Stella added.

The teenaged girls all looked to each other in worry, not knowing if Gray Mann was already stationed in Germany or not.

((((LINEBREAK))))

_Rottenburg_

Medic was tending to his doves at his house, making sure that they were all fed and happy. He noticed that Archimedes seemed a little depressed.

"(What's wrong my little feathered friend?)" He asked, petting his companion on the head, "(You've barely eaten anything since we left Teufort.)"

Archimedes seemed to coo in depression. Ah, so that was what was wrong.

"(I know you miss exploring inside their bodies when I had them on the table)." Medic said, taking the bird off his perch and holding him close to his heart. "(But we sadly have no more business there anymore.)"

The dove, seeming to understand the gesture of comfort, snuggled into the doctor's chest and cooed. Medic chuckled at the sign of affection.

"(Tell you what, tomorrow at work, I'll sneak into the morgue and find some intestines for you to play in. How does that sound?)" Medic asked smiling warmly to his aviary friend. Archimedes fluttered his wings in excitement. Medic simply laughed at seeing how fast the dove's mood changed.

"(Alright, alright,)" Medic said in an attempt to calm the bird down, "(I promise I will do this for you tomorrow. But for now, it is time for little birds get some sleep.)"

He placed Archimedes back in his cage and placed a sheet over it. Going to his desk, Medic looked over some of the paperwork for patients he would have to work on next. He moaned in frustration. Yes, while it was true that this new job pays almost as much as when he was a field medic in Teufort, he hated the strict rules that he had to follow. Sitting back in his chair, he pulled out a drawer to pick up a brown folder, opening it to show pictures of himself with the other mercenaries that he worked with.

"(What I wouldn't do to go back.)" Medic said, slightly smiling as he remembered all the times he had with his team and all the times he tore through his enemies with his bone saw. Putting the paperwork away he got up from his chair and headed to his room for bed. The paperwork could wait.


	5. The Doctor Will See You Now

Chapter 5: The doctor will see you now.

It was a few days later that Heavy finally arrived at Teufort. He was happy to see that his former teammates were doing well and was formally acquainted with the girls. At first he doubted the skills of the girls, but thanks to the previous week of training, and a small robot wave that came soon after he arrived, his views were quickly changed.

"While it is nice to see old friends and make new ones," Ms. Pauling said, coming out of her hiding place "We should head to the airport as soon as possible."

"Where are we going Ms. Pauling?" Heavy asked, setting Sacha down.

"To find Medic," Dream explained after she transformed back, "Before Grey does."

"Why would he go after the doc?" Scout asked.

"If there's no one to heal on the battle field, one of us could easily be shot down to never get up again." Stella said.

"Particularly in this case, one of us-" Savannah said waving over herself and the other girls, "-gets hit because we're not hooked up to respawn." At that, Ms. Pauling made a mental note to fix that as soon as possible.

Everyone separated to there rooms/ houses to pack their stuff. At the airport, Stella was found wearing a dark purple, almost black, cloak that she had been wearing in the session with her friends before being transported to Teufort.

"Why are you wearing that?" Demoman asked.

"It might be cold there," Stella explained, picking up the small bag Spy let her borrow. "You never know..."

Everyone then followed behind Ms. Pauling to the privet plane, starting their journey to Rottenburg. On the plane ride there, Savannah was whispering to herself every now and then so that she wouldn't disturb the mercenaries who had fallen asleep.

"I'm guessing you're going to be our translator while we're there?" Stella whispered from the seat behind her.

"Jawol, Dummkoph. (Yes ma'm, stupid head)" Savannah answered affectionately in German. Stella simply giggled a little, not really understanding what she had just said and wondering if her friend had secretly insulted her. The rest of the flight went smoothly as they eventually landed in the Stuttgart airport.

"So when we get there, how are we going to find him?" Scout asked, stretching after being stuck in a cramp aisle, forced to sit next to Heavy.

"Well, we have two options," Ms. Pauling explained, "We go to the nearest hospital in Rottenburg and search for him there, or we could find an area that houses a lot of doves." Using Stella's suggestion from earlier.

"Why don't we split up?" Catie suggested, "Some of us look for a house full of doves, while the rest of us look at the hospital while Ms. Pauling waits for us in a lodge."

Everyone agreed and started to decide who would go with whom.

"I will go with girls to hospital." Heavy said, sticking with Stella and Savannah, "I'm sure Doctor will be happy to see giant Heavy again!"

"I will also go with them!" Soldier said, "You never know what these sly Germans might be up to." Savannah kept her comment on that silent, simply rolling her eyes.

The hospital bound group began heading in that direction when they saw Pyro walking up towards them.

"You're coming with us Pyro?" Savannah asked.

Pyro nodded then started to speak, the words muffled under their mask.

"Pyro said that he wants to see what wonders await him when he finds Medic at his new job." Savannah translated.

"You can understand him...her?" Stella asked, sighing, "I still don't know what Pyro is."

When the party arrived they entered the hospital, getting a few weird looks. When they got near the front desk the mercenaries remembered they that they knew no German. To spare an embarrassing seen, Savannah walked up to the nurse at the desk.

"Entschuldigung (Excuse me nurse, but we are looking to talk to one of the doctors here. Can you help us?)" Savannah said, surprising all of the party except Stella.

"(Do you have an appointment?)" The nurse asked.

"(Uhhh… No, you see, the doctor is a friend of ours-)"

"(I'm sorry, but all of the doctors are busy and unless you have an appointment, you are looking for a patient, or are suddenly injured, I can't help you.)"

Savannah sighed, and returned to the group.

"What did she say?" Stella asked, not fazed by her friend speaking German. She did it all the time in Skype calls.

"She says that all the doctors are busy at the moment and unless the person we're looking for is a patient, we need to leave and try somewhere else or come back with an injured person." Savannah explained looking frustrated.

"Injured person huh..." Stella repeated, rubbing her chin then looking to Soldier and Pyro. "I think I have an idea..."

Stella went outside and started to build a small fire, making Pyro hop up and down clapping his hands in happiness.

"Private Stella! What are you doing!?" Soldier said, beginning to stomp out the fire.

"3...2...1..." Stella counted down smirking.

Out of nowhere, Pyro grabbed a nearby rake and slashed Soldier across the arm with it. Savannah, suddenly realizing Stella's plan, ran into the hospital again.

"(Help, my father is hurt! He is bleeding everywhere! He fell on the rusty fence outside!)" She shouted, making up a cover story.

The nurses instantly went into action and went out side. They were then led inside and assigned to a room, once inside the doctor patched up Soldier and returned to another patient.

"Well, we're in." Stella said, "But we haven't seen Medic yet."

"Let us think." Heavy pondered aloud. "If we were Doctor, where is first place we be?"

The girls thought for a minute when suddenly their eyes widened at their realization.

"In the morgue!" They said together.

After a lot of sneaking around and lying, the girls managed to sneak into the morgue, finding the missing medical professional carefully cutting open one of the corpses to harvest the intestines.

"He's probably doing that for his experiments." Stella whispered.

"Or for Archimedes." Savannah pointed out.

"Let's just grab him and go."

"I'll get him, and blow his mind in the process."

Stella sighed, and then held her hand out signally for Savannah to go ahead. With a smile, Savannah walked up to the doctor and began speaking.

"Herr (Mister Doctor, what are you doing?)" She said cutely

"(You are neither dead nor dying.)" Medic responded a bit sternly, "(What is a young woman such yourself doing in a place like this?)" He turned towards her.

"Savannah! Hurry it up! Let's go before Grey Mann shows up here!" Stella quietly shouted, looking up the stairs to see if anyone was coming down.

"Calm yourself woman, I'm getting to it!" Savannah shouted back in English.

"Wait..." Medic said, "Who did you come here with?"

"We came here with the other mercenaries." Stella explained walking up to them and grabbing Medic by the wrist. "Now come on! Soldier, Pyro and Heavy are waiting for you!"

"Heavy is here?" Medic asked, a small blush coming to his face.

"Yes, your man crush is here." Stella explained, still pulling on Medic's wrist, Savannah following behind with a knowing smirk on her face "Now let's move!"

Medic gave a huff of annoyance. "Heavy is not my 'man crush' he's just a good patient to work with." He defended, following the girls back to Soldier's room.

Suddenly there was an explosion that came from outside, followed by the screaming of the locals outside.

"Oh please God don't let that be Gray Mann..." Stella sighed as she slumped her shoulders, already knowing that she was right.

"At least our necklaces are charged up." Savannah said, reassuring her older friend.

"Necklaces?" Medic questioned.

The girls then transformed to their battle uniforms, peaking the Medic's interest.

"Oi, You got th' Medigun with you?" Stella asked, her accent stronger this time.

"(That's a stupid question Stella; of course he doesn't have it with him.)" Savannah replied, her voice muffled from the mask.

Everyone ran outside too meet up in the center of town and started trying to fight off the robots. When one of them got close to either Dream or the Medic, Spy or Stella would quickly dispose of them.

"Piss off you metal freaks!" Stella shouted, taking out a giant Demo-bot.

"Interesting..." Medic said to himself as he helped to take the injured out of the crossfire.

Not long later, the robots that attacked the town became nothing but heaps of scrap metal. Everyone looked over the wreckage to make sure that they got every last robot. Before they could clap the dirt off their hands, Scout spoke up from his perch on a building.

"Yo, we got a few more over there!" He shouted pointing over to a secluded alleyway.

Quickly, everyone snuck over to see what was going on. As they looked into the alleyway they where shocked at what they saw.

There were 3 Scout-bots and a small, pink colored Medic-bot. But that is not what was shocking, it was the fact that the 3 Scout-bots where hitting the waist-height Medic-bot. The little pink robot was curled into a little ball, shivering, while the 3 bigger robots where yelling and beating it.

"**You little mistake! You should have been dismantled!" **One of the Scout-bots shouted.

"**Pink freak! You're a waste of metal!**" Another shouted, kicking the small robot.

"**We'll teach you to try and help those damn mercenaries!" **The last one yelled raising its bat for another hit.

This left everyone stunned. The Medic-bot was trying to help them? How? And more importantly why? Acting on instinct, Scout ran in at top speed and took out the 3 bigger robots with his scatter gun. He spared the small Medic-bot for questioning.

Picking up the money that fell out of the robots, everyone walked into the alleyway. The pink Medic-bot peeked out from behind its hands and at seeing the weapons, squeaked, and curled into an even tighter ball.

Savannah transformed back and knelt down in front of the little robot.

"Hey little guy, we're not going to hurt you." She said softly, trying to coax the robot out of hiding.

The Medic-bot slowly stopped shaking and eventually peeked out from behind its hands. Everyone finally got a good look at the little robot. It looked like the other Medic-bots, but with some obvious differences. Its face was rounded, there where antennas where the ears would be, currently they were pointed back and down. Instead of the normal medic cross emblem, the robot had a heart with a heart monitor beat going through it pained on its shoulders, chest, and antenna.

"**W-What d-d-do y-y-you wan-n-t f-from-m m-me?" **The little robot stuttered.

"We just want to ask some questions. We heard what those Scout-bots said. Where you really trying to help us?" Savannah asked. She sat down on the ground with her legs crossed, trying to look small as to not scare the robot.

"**Yes. I-I t-tried to heal t-the injured" **

Medic now knew why some of the wounds he saw went from fatal, to survivable in the span of a few minutes.

"What did the Scout-bots mean by 'should have been dismantled'?" Savannah continued.

"**They are right; a-all the robots call me a m-mistake, even my creator. I always m-mess everything up. I j-just wanted to do something right." **The little robot looked close to crying now.

"Do you have a name?"

"**I was originally given the name Hartlieb, but now it seems that my name is 'mistake'" **Hartlieb stood up and balanced on his wheel, **"Please, I just want to do something right, please take me with you."**

Hartlieb then began crying, something that surprised everyone, and collapsed in Savannah's arms, oily tears leaking out of his eyes.

No one knew what to say. This tiny thing that tried to help them, defying its creator and brothers, was asking them to give it a chance to do something right. Savannah continued to try and consol Hartlieb, and picking him up, she turned to everyone. It was almost an unconscious agreement.

As they walked back to the lodge, they informed Ms. Pauling about everything. She at first was reluctant to keep the robot, but at the suggestion to gather information from him, she was more willing.

Everyone went to bed knowing that tomorrow, they would be heading to Australia to find there long range precision assassin.

((((LINEBREAK))))

_Australia_

Sniper was on his family's farm, 'helping' his father with the daily chores. 'Helping' of course being used loosely as it seemed that no matter what he did, his father was always right behind him to scold him. Sniper's mother on the other hand was always there to comfort her son.

"It's alright Mickey..." She'd say patting his back, "It's been a while since you last worked with your father; you're just out of practice." They where currently in the kitchen preparing lunch.

"Please don't call me by that name mum..." Sniper said, annoyed at the nickname. He was currently chopping lamb meat.

"At least the boy managed to cure himself of his sickness!" his father shouted from out side, tending to the sheep.

"For the last time dad, I wasn't a crazed gunman!" Sniper shouted back, putting the knife down and heading out the back door.

"If that was the case then why did I get a phone call from this 'Ms. Pauling' askin' for you to go back to that hell hole!?"

This caught Sniper's interest immediately as he turned to his mother from the doorway.

"Is that true?" he asked.

She nodded, frowning. She hated keeping things from her son. "She said that it was something important, but your father asked me to keep it secret from you." she explained.

"Why!?" Sniper almost felt betrayed; sure this was something that his father would do, but his mother?

"I don't want you makin' yourself any more sick by going back there and blowing out people's brains for your sick pleasure!" His father yelled in defense.

"If my employers need me again then I have to help them!" Sniper said beginning to run to his now rarely used camper van.

"Lawrence Michael Mundy if you take one step into that death trap you will be dead to me from here on out!"

"Good! I never wanted you as a father anyways!" Sniper shouted, tears in his eyes and slamming the door shut, driving off to a random place.

He looked back in the rear view mirror to see his mother about to beat his father senseless. Tears started to roll down Sniper's cheeks as he could understand that his mother was now heartbroken at the sight of his father driving him away.

He drove for about a half an hour, quietly sobbing to himself and trying not to hit anything. His pity party was soon over as he suddenly got the notification that his once trusty camper was now running low on gas.

"Ah piss..." He said wiping away the tears and driving off to the side of the road to park.

Exiting out of the driver's seat, Sniper took out his rifle and wandered into the wide outback to start hunting for food. He had a feeling he'd be stranded for a while. As he walked off into the sunset, he wondered to himself about what the rest of his team was doing now.


	6. Thunder Down Under

Chapter 6: Thunder Down Under

The next morning, everyone packed up any belongings and drove off to the airport.

"We should probably be prepared for the likely hood that Sniper's father might have driven him off." Dream mentioned, "Based on what you told us, Ms. Pauling, I don't think he would want Sniper to answer the call of duty."

"Then here is what I propose," Ms. Pauling started, "Once we arrive in Australia, we first check with his parents. If his father has indeed driven him away, we split up and start searching for him."

Everyone agreed and boarded their plane. This time they each sat with someone different from when they were on their way to Germany. Stella sat next to Spy who was reading a book through the flight. He occasionally glanced over to the girl to find her doodling in a notebook, drawing small pictures of herself with Sniper with little hearts surrounding them.

"Do you have a crush on Sniper?" He finally asked with a smirk.

"No!" Stella replied blushing, slamming her notebook shut. "No I do not have a crush on Sniper!"

"Then why were you drawing yourself kissing him?"

"If you know what's good for you Spooky, you'll shut your mouth right now." She threatened.

"Just one more question before I do."

Stella sighed "What?"

"What is it about the bushman that you find yourself attracted to?"

Stella paused and thought about it for a second, then told the Spy what she loved most about the Sniper, about how his voice matched his personality, the scar that was on his cheek and what she imagined Sniper looked like without his shirt on. Spy chuckled at the girl's explanation.

"You must be very excited to be going to the bushman's home." Spy stated with a chuckle.

"You think?" Stella replied sarcastically.

A few rows back, Medic and Dream were conversing with each other with Savannah behind them listening and occasionally commenting.

"Archimedes seems to like me." Dream said, "As soon as we approached your house, your other doves flew away and hid, but Archimedes flew over to me."

"Did he? That is quite interesting." Medic said, "It must be due to your necklace."

Dream giggled while trying, and failing, to hide her blush. Medic simply chuckled at the girls antics while Savannah rolled her eyes smiling.

The plane finally landed in Australia and the mercenaries soon exited the plane. They then found Sniper's home and knocked on the door, Sniper's mother answering.

"Hello Mrs. Mundy." Ms. Pauling said, "Is your son home?"

Before Sniper's mother could answer, his father shouted from inside the house "We have no son! Take your business somewhere else!"

"Looks like we're going to have a little scavenger hunt." Catie joked.

"Please make sure Mickey is safe." Sniper's mother said, immediately followed by quiet snickering from the more immature members of the group.

The group groaned in annoyance, they were in a hurry and knew that after they found Sniper, they would have to find Engineer who seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth.

Despite this inconvenient, everyone split up and started to search the wide Outback. Stella ended up going out on her own, having taken note of the dirt that had been kicked up from Sniper's van and heading in that direction.

"His father must have really pissed him off if he was on the verge of skidding out." She said to herself as she was walking.

It was sunset when Stella found the empty van off the side of the road.

_I wonder if he's home_, Stella thought as she walked up to the van.

She first tried knocking on the back door, realizing that it was open. The temptation of going inside was strong as Stella saw the door slowly swing open from her knock.

_I really shouldn't go in there_, the girl thought slowly creeping in, _But I can't help it! I need to know what's in there!_

As soon as the woman stepped in, she immediately got blasted with the scent of urine, making her scrunch up her face. She also noted the various sniper rifles and knifes that were on the wall.

"This is just how I imagined this place to be like." Stella whispered to herself.

Stella continued to explore her idol's secondary home, her heart beating faster than the firing speed of Heavy's minigun. However Stella's exploration was soon cut short as she heard said bushman returning. In a panic, Stella dove under the bed to make sure that she wouldn't be seen.

"I must be out of practice." Sniper said to himself as he walked around his camper, "I couldn't even hit a bloody rock out there." Stella kept quiet as she heard Sniper ranting to himself, insulting his father and saying how he didn't understand how important his role was for his team.

Stella tried her best to keep quiet as she looked to see what Sniper was doing. She saw that he was pacing through the van and cleaning his now used weapon. Suddenly her eyes widened as she saw him going to the bed, watching as his shirt fell to the floor.

_Oh sweet Jesus_ Stella thought to herself, _He sleeps with his shirt off_

She then took a few quiet breaths while mentally chanting to herself to _keep calm_. Suddenly she heard the sound of a zipper and almost lost it when she saw Sniper's pants fall to the floor.

_He sleeps with his pants off too!?_ Stella thought to herself.

Stella continued to breathe quietly so that she wouldn't give away her position. She felt Sniper sit on the bed, preparing to fall asleep. After a while, Stella tried her best to crawl out from under the bed. Just as she was about to get out, Sniper's hand fell on her head.

_Oh my god, he's touching me!_ She thought to herself blushing brightly, _It's like he's petting me._

Stella became so caught up in her day dream that she reached up and touched his hand, causing him to wake up.

"What the hell!?" He said rolling off his bed and landing on top of the girl.

Both of them groaned in pain before Sniper jumped up off the floor and grabbed his Kukri from the wall, holding it to the girl's throat within seconds.

"Alright, I just want to know who you are and why the _hell_ you're in my van." Sniper growled.

Stella gulped, feeling the blade pressing on her throat.

"I'm Stella," She said calmly, "And I'm in your van because I came to get you."

"Why are you looking for me?" Sniper asked.

"The others mercenaries need your help to stop Gray Mann," Stella explained. Sniper gently took the blade away from her throat and let her stand, "And your mother is worried about you...Mickey."

Sniper's eyes widened then groaned. "I keep telling her not to call me by that name." Sniper said, putting down his knife.

Stella began to explain her situation to her idol, stating how she ended up in this world, that she was here with her friends and that Engie was the only mercenary who was still missing. She also explained the purpose of her medallion and how it was able to give her the same skills that he had.

"That somehow seems unbelievable." Sniper said, scratching the back of his head.

"You got a better explanation Mundy?" Stella deadpanned.

"Well, you got me there."

There was a silence between the two before Sniper spoke up again.

"I have to ask, have you used Jarate yet?" he asked.

"Yes actually, to put out one of the mercenaries who were lit on fire." She explained.

"Who?"

Stella giggled remembering what she did to help the Spy. Sniper seemed to understand and started to laugh with her. Stella's iPhone started vibrating to signal that she was getting a call. She answered to the frustrated voice of Savannah.

"Stella, no one has had any luck as to finding Sniper, how are you doing?" Savannah said in a monotone voice.

"I found him a while ago. He's about 5 miles away from his family's farm." Stella explained.

"Really? Awesome! We'll meet up with you in a little bit." Savannah said, now sounding a lot happier.

"Bring some gasoline!" Sniper shouted into the phone, "My van is all out!"

"All right!" was the response.

About an hour later, everyone arrived with a tank of gasoline to fill up Sniper's van.

"It is good to see you again bushman." Spy said, holding his hand out for a friendly handshake.

"Same to you, spook." Sniper replied shaking his hand, "Stella here happen to tell me of how she saved you from burning to death." The marksman smirked.

Spy groaned, remembering how even if Sniper himself wasn't around, he would still be haunted by the idea that he would be dowsed in the repulsive golden jars.

"Just be glad I wasn't on my period." Stella said to Spy, patting him on the back.

Anyone who heard made a face of disgust, not knowing which one would be worse, yellow or red Jarate.

"You make that face now, but one day it'll save your life!" Stella defended.

"Well at least we know all the mercenaries are all safe and together." Ms. Pauling said.

"Not all of them, Ms. Pauling." Dream said.

Everyone's expressions turned to those of worry, as no one knew where Engie was or if he was even still alive. They all decided that they would head home and start searching there.

((((LINEBREAK))))

_Grey Mann's Base_

Grey was in his office looking over footage that came from Hartlieb, proud of himself for managing to place the bugged program in the small robot before he 'escaped'.

"Those fools are unaware that I am watching their every move." He said quietly to himself as he watched and listened in on his enemies.

"Daddy!" Gray's daughter, Olivia shouted as she ran down the hall, "One of the Scout robots broke down! He was in the middle of playing with me too!" He turned to her in his chair.

"Don't worry Olivia," Gray said patting the girl on the head, "We'll just have our pr- handy man repair him for you." Olivia giggled then ran to a prison cell and banged on the door.

"Rise and shine Mr. Fix-It!" She shouted happily, "It's time for you to repair one of the robots again!"

The prisoner inside opened his eyes from his attempted nap brought on by another night of no sleep as usual. Knowing that he couldn't refuse, he got up from the rock hard bench that was his bed and went to the door.

"How often does your daddy need me, exactly?" A Texan accented voice replied to the little girl.

"You know if you don't repair him, then daddy will kill you Mr. Conagher!" Olivia sung. Engineer winced at the threat; he hated it when she spoke his name and threats of death in that happy tone of hers.

"Fine, where is it?" He asked her.

"I knew you'd see things our way!" Olivia said opening the cell door, "Corey is in my room, I'm sure daddy will already have the tools for you there!" With that, the Engineer exited his cell and followed Olivia to her room to repair the broken robot.

After a half hour of fixing the Scout-bot he was returned to his cell. As night fell and Engineer fell asleep, he hoped for a miracle that would help get him out of this hell hole.


	7. Rescue Ranger

Chapter 7: Rescue Ranger

The group of fighters finally arrived back in Teufort. Not long later everyone began searching high and low for Engineer. And after an entire day they had found no sign of the Texan.

"We've looked everywhere for 'im!" Scout shouted after collapsing in a chair, exhausted from running at top speed all day, "Where the hell is he?"

"This search is starting to become pointless! I say we find a new engineer!" Soldier shouted.

"You need your Engie if we're going to have a chance against the robots. We are just managing against those things, but those waves are only going to get bigger." Savannah stated to the patriot.

Soldier glared at her from under his helmet. A full blown argument would have happened between the two if Catie hadn't spoken up.

"Hartlieb? Are you okay?" Catie asked looking to the pink robot.

"**N-n-nooo-o… AHH-" **Hartlieb was sparking and twitching. He fell down as a particularly violent jolt rocked his frame. Savannah pushed pass Soldier to check on the little robot.

"Magnet!" she yelled, to which Dream responded by running into Engineers abandon workshop, returning with a big magnet seconds later. Savannah waved the magnet near Hartlieb's head, which shut him off.

"I think I can fix him" Savannah said almost out of breath from the scare.

"You know how to fix robots?" Demoman asked.

"A little. My dad sowed me how to fix cars and computers and stuff. Same concept so it shouldn't be hard." She then started to work on Hartlieb, bringing him into the abandon workshop, starting by opening a hatch she found on the back of his head. As she worked, she noticed a strange device inside the little Medic-bot's possessor.

"What is this?" She asked pointing to it.

Everyone looked to the device then their expressions changed from one of curiosity to one of horror. It was a transmitter.

"Has Gray been watching our every move through this?" Ms. Pauling asked coming up by Savannah to get a good look.

"He must have been..." Spy said, stepping on a used cigarette to put it out, "Why else would he leave the robot alone without any protection."

"We should have destroyed it when we have the chance!" Soldier shouted.

"Wait!" Stella said, "Maybe we could use this to our advantage."

"How?" Demoman asked.

"We can trace the signal." Stella explained looking towards the tank that held a wave of robots. The mercenaries looked to where Stella was looking and flinched at seeing the tank. It was just too dangerous to step into that hell hole.

"Stella might actually have a point." Dream said, "Grey knows that we need Engie if we're going to have a chance at his army of robots."

"And who better to fix up his destroyed robots than someone who has knowledge of robotics?" Spy finally realized.

The mercs shrunk at this fact; but they swallowed their fear and agreed to help. After some thinking and tossing ideas around they came up with an almost fool-proof plan. Savannah was tasked with explaining to Hartlieb parts of it, as to not let Grey in.

"**Are you sure this will work Miss Savannah?" **Hartlieb asked.

"Don't worry Hartlieb; me and Catie will be with you." She said in a comforting voice

"**Okay."** Hartlieb replied, beginning to follow them.

"Are you sure dis will work?" Scout whispered to Stella before they left.

"Don't worry, he doesn't know about our plan B." Stella whispered back, and then looked to Spy, "You have that spare invisiwatch?"

Spy held up the cloaking device and smiled.

"It's right here cher." He said, putting it around her wrist.

"It's the Cloak and Dagger right?"

"Yes, as long as you stand still the cloak will not drain."

"Thank you"

Stella then looked to the other mercenaries and nodded.

"Me and Spy will be back as soon as possible." She explained, "Until then, fight off as many robots as you can and don't do anything stupid."

"That'll be hard for Soldier to do." Dream said. The other mercs chuckled at the fact that Soldier was always reckless when it came to fighting on the battle field.

Stella and Spy found their way to Gray's tank and saw the girls and Hartlieb trying to get in.

"**We don't know what yer up to you little piece of scrap metal**!" One of the Scout bots said pushing him down. **"But thanks for the free prisoners!"**

The girls then pretended like the plan was going to pieces, and were led to the cell that held Engie.

"**We got some room mates for ya hard hat."** The Scout bots said. They were then thrown in and the door was locked behind them, the key being place on a hook just out of their reach.

"At least we know where the key is." Catie said looking over to Savannah.

"I wouldn't bother tryin' to get it," Engie said, giving the girls a piece of his loaf of bread that he was given earlier that day. "They've made sure that it's completely out of reach."

The girls ate the bread that they were given then sat down next to Engineer.

"Don't worry Dell; we're not the ones who will be getting that key." Savannah said confidently.

"Yeah, our friends are going to help us out Mr. Conagher." Catie added.

"Hold on, how do y'all know my name?" Engineer asked.

The girls then, once again explained their situation, explaining that they were from another plane of existence where he was just a game character. The also whispered their plan to him, saying that Spy and Stella were going to be saving them.

"Much obliged ladies, I've been here since Gray fired all of us and I've been waiting to get out of here for so long." Engineer said, shaking both girls' hands.

"Well then, I guess we came at the right time." Stella's whispered voice was heard as she decloaked, with the key in her hand.

"Stella!" The girls quietly shouted and hugged her as she opened the door.

Spy uncloaked next to the group of girls and greeted Engineer as he walked out of the cell.

"Yes, while this is a heartwarming reunion." he said brushing off a bit of dust his suit, "We should be leaving before Gray notices that there's an escape attempt in the process."

"Oh it's far too late for that." Came Gray's voice from down the hallway. Everyone turned around to face the man, who was being followed by a group of robots.

"We all know how important Mr. Conagher is to your success in stopping me. And thanks to that bumbling Soldier, I was able to hear about all about your plan." He taunted.

"If we get out of here, I'm going to kill Soll'." Engineer said sighing.

The girls proceeded to transform into their battle forms and aimed at the robots.

"You can fight all you want, but I've made sure that you'll never escape here." Gray said laughing. A group of giant robots could be heard coming down the hall, there footsteps echoing all around.

The sound sent a shiver down the present merc's spine. They were out numbered and where about to give up and go inside the already open cell, when another, much smaller sound was herd.

"Where are the intruders daddy!? I'll take care of them!" Olivia shouted as she tried to push her way through.

Stella panicked and took sights at the little girl. She hesitated for a fraction of as second before shooting Olivia in the shoulder, causing her to scream out in pain.

"Olivia!" Gray shouted as he ran to his daughter.

Within the confusion, Spy happened to spot a way out. Apparently Gray hadn't checked every opening that there was and was foolish enough to leave an air vent open that led to outside. The five quickly crawled into the small space and started to head for day light.

Minuets later they made it outside and ran back to the others, with Engie immediately running of to his workshop and grabbing his gear and building what was needed. The other mercs saw this and cheered for the Texan and his work. In no time at all, the wave of robots crumbled to mere piles of scrap metal.

"Welcome back to team Engineer!" Heavy said, patting him on the back.

"Yeah, nice hustle out there hard hat!" Scout complemented, panting a bit from running and jumping so much.

"It is good to know that you are safe with the rest of us." Medic exclaimed.

The sound of clapping could be heard right behind them. Ms. Pauling had a smile on her face as she walked up to them.

"It's good to see that everyone is finally here." She said, walking up to Engineer, "Are you okay Dell?"

"I'm fine Ms. Pauling, thanks to the help of Spy and these nice girls here." He replied, gesturing to his saviors.

"Oh please Engineer, I was nothing at all." Spy said waving him off and lighting a new cigarette.

"Yeah, it's no big deal." Catie added, "You're just as important to the team as any one else."

As everyone began conversing and walking towards the base, Spy walked up to Stella with a serious expression.

"Stella may I ask you something?" He asked.

"What is it?" Stella asked.

"I know you were just trying to help when we were on the verge of capture, but did you have to shoot that little girl in the shoulder?"

The other mercenaries gasped and asked her why she would stoop to such a low as shooting a defenseless child in the shoulder.

"I panicked, okay! The robots were going to attack us and we didn't have much time!" She replied, "Come on I'm sure one of you guys would have done the same thing."

They all awkwardly shuffled off and avoided the topic for the rest of the night, making Stella feel like a horrible person for having done something so horrible to a child. She decided to push the idea out of her mind and went to her phone to look at some pictures of Sniper to comfort her.

(((((LINEBREAK)))))

_Grey's main base_

The Medic-bots were doing their best to heal the injured Olivia, her tears running down her cheek as she held her father's hand.

"It really hurts Daddy..." She said wiping her tears away.

"I know Olivia, I know." Gray replied softly, petting her hand. "But don't worry about that horrible girl; I have the Mecha Engineers working on something that'll take care of her, her little friends, and those mercenaries!"

"**Should we prepare for the next wave tomorrow?"** the Sniper-bot that was standing at the door asked.

There was a silence, followed by Gray chuckling to himself.

"No, in fact, dismiss the orders for an attack tomorrow." He said.

"**B-but sir! You told us to-"** The Soldier-bot started to say.

"I know I ordered you to keep attacking those mercenaries, but now I'm ordering you to cease all attacks!" Gray shouted in anger, "I want this next attack to come as a surprise to those damned fools."


	8. The War Against Boredom

Chapter 8: The War Against Boredom

It was a few days after helping Engie escape, Stella and Soldier where at their posts, watching for a robot attack, the others looking at them and rolling at their eyes.

"Th' robots haven't attacked us for a full week," Scout said up to them, "What makes ya think that they'll attack today?"

"Gray is merely preparing for a surprise attack!" Soldier shouted back down, "And I will not be surprised when it happens!"

"And as much as I hate to agree with Soldier," Stella added with a sigh, "He probably right on this one, not to mention that Gray kinda' wants my head on a silver platter now that I've hurt his daughter."

All the present mercenaries nodded at this fact as they would probably do the same if they were in Gray's position.

"Still, even if Gray is planning somethin' big I would imagine it would take him more than a week to construct." Engineer said, "It took years for my granddaddy's sentry plans to become reality."

"True, but Gray has multiple Engineer-bots to build it for him." Stella replied coming down the ladder to talk better.

"Stella, sweetheart, baby," Scout started walking up to the girl and placing an arm around her shoulder, "Ya gotta stop worryin'. Why don't we go shoppin'? Maybe getcha somethin' pretty ta wear." He grinned at her.

"Or ya take your arm off my shoulders before freaking I break it." Stella said grabbing his arm causing him to back off immediately.

The girls started to think of what they could do to get Stella to stop worrying, when finally Savannah came up with an idea.

"How about this," She started to propose, "Why do you grab a spare huntsman and practice your archery with Sniper?" She finished with a knowing look. Stella immediately blushed and started to stutter.

"Wh-why would I want to practice archery with Sniper?" She said quickly, "I'm perfectly fine with my necklace!"

"That may be true," Dream sung with a smirk, "But you could always sharpen your skills with a professional."

"Besides," Catie added, "Didn't you say that you were horrible at the Huntsman?"

Stella's face was bright red, it was true that her skills with the Huntsman bow were more based on luck than anything, but she felt that she wouldn't be able to handle being so close to Sniper with him teaching her. Still… who could pass up a chance like that?

"F-fine, I'll go practice with Sniper." Stella finally said.

"Good, now don't come back until you've wooed the bushman!" Savannah said pushing Stella towards the Sniper.

"Alright alright! Ya don't gotta' push! An' stap tha' Savanna'!" Stella shouted to her friend.

"Your accent is leaking again Stella." Catie said with a smirk.

After yelling at her friends to shut up about her Boston accent, Stella followed the Sniper to a shooting range. Picking up a spare Huntsman, she first showed Sniper what she was capable of.

"I can already see what yer doing wrong from over here." Sniper said in an unenthusiastic voice.

"What am I doing wrong?" Stella asked. Sniper walked up to the girl and took her hands in his, pulling the bowstring back with the arrow loaded. Stella blushed brightly at his touch.

"First of all, yer not pulling the bowstring back all the way, and yer not keeping yer legs spread to distribute yer weight." Sniper explained, kicking Stella's feet into the right position and backing off. "Now let it fly."

Stella snapped out of her daydream and let go of the arrow, hitting just shy of the bull's-eye.

"Now try that again." Sniper said, watching the girl.

Stella did as she was instructed, improving more and more with her aim in the Huntsman. It was only a matter of time before she started getting bull's-eyes multiple times in a row.

"This is amazing! I've never been able to hit this many bull's-eyes at once!" Stella said excitedly, smiling wide.

"Well how often do you practice archery?" Sniper asked her.

"I don't, that's the thing." Stella said drawing the bow to shoot again. "I've only done archery at fairs. Most of the time I spend is either playing video games or going for walks."

Sniper gave a brief chuckle.

"I was wonderin' why you have the nicest legs." He said.

Stella's eyes widened.

"Wait what?" She asked turning towards Sniper and accidentally shooting off the arrow.

Unfortunately due to this blunder, this caused Scout to be the target, as the arrow flew through the air into the runner's ass, causing him to scream in pain. Stella blushed at her mistake and called out to him.

"Sorry Scout!" She shouted.

Scout shouted back saying that he 'was good' and limped over to the infirmary to find Medic instructing Dream in the ways of medicine.

"Uhh…. Yo Doc, can ya… help me out here?" He said, pointing to the arrow that was deep in his ass.

"Ja we will help you." Medic replied smiling.

"We?" Scout asked confused.

"I'm going to be helping Medic to I can learn about medicine." Dream said from behind Medic.

"Ah great." Scout sighed to himself and went over the table, laying himself down.

"Now Frau Dream, what is the first thing we should do?" Medic asked as if giving a pop quiz. Dream thought for a second then snapped her fingers.

"We restrain the patient to prepare him for the removal of the arrow in his ass!" Dream replied, strapping Scout down with leather restraints.

Suddenly Scout screamed out in pain as the arrow was quickly and violently removed.

"Nicht(Don't fucking kill him!)" Savannah shouted from outside. Dream then tossed the arrow in the near by sink to wash off later.

"Now then, what is the second thing we do?" The former doctor asked.

"Disinfect the wound!" Dream replied picking up a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a cloth. She poured a generous amount on the cloth and disinfected the wound on Scout's posterior, again, causing him to scream a little in pain.

"Oh don't be such a baby!" Medic scolded him, "You should be lucky that the arrow did not hit you from the front." Scout groaned, while he was thankful that the arrow didn't hit him just below the belt in the front, he was still mad that it instead went into the back.

"And what is the final step to healing a wounded patient Dream?" Medic asked the girl.

"We heal him with the medigun of course!" Dream replied. Medic nodded and went to the ceiling mounted medigun and flipped a few switches. The red glow came out the barrel and onto Scout, healing the wound completely.

"Why didn't you do that in th' first place!"

"For science!" Medic responded dramatically.

"Uhg, wheteva'. Thanks anyway Dream, ya ain't bad for a new doc." Scout said winking.

"Don't push your luck, I can easily put the arrow back in and push it in farther." Dream retorted holding up the still bloody arrow.

With that, Scout immediately left the office to get away from the psycho doctor and his new apprentice. Once he left he was greeted by Catie, almost tripping over her.

"Whoa watch it! I coulda hurt ya!" He shouted.

"Sorry," Catie replied, "I just wanted to see if you were okay. I saw you come in with an arrow up your… ass." She repressed a giggle.

"Pfft, Yeah I'm fine; I can easily bounce back from something like that!" Scout replied running around the girl to prove his point.

Catie finally let out a small giggle at how Scout was trying to be impressive around a female, knowing from her friends that he was desperate for a girl friend.

"It's a good thing that that's true, like Stella said, everyone is important!" Catie said optimistically. Scout smiled, the thought of the eldest of the group made his heart beat as fast as he could run.

"Speaking of Stella, do you think she'd go for a guy like me?" He asked, hoping for a definitive 'Yes'.

Catie's happy expression faded. "Well...she's told me and the girls multiple times that she'd rather go on a date with the Sniper." She replied. She then looked up to the Bostonian and noted his sad expression, immediately hugging him to try and make him feel better.

"But I'd go on a date with you in a heartbeat." She stated, still hugging the Scout and slightly snuggling into his chest and shoulders.

Scout was surprised to say the least, he couldn't imagine a girl so young having a crush on him. Still, not wanting to hurt her feelings, Scout simply pated the girl on the head.

"Thanks Catie." He said returning the hug, "How about we go on a little mini-date right now? How does that sound to you?"

Catie's eyes lit up.

"Sure! Come on let's go!" Scout smiled and ran with Catie to somewhere, passing Savannah and Pyro.

The two where practicing aiming with flare guns, Savannah occasionally missing her target every once in a while. However, unlike the Sniper's methods of being stern whenever Stella had messed up, Pyro's mood was always positive when they saw Savannah make a mistake.

"(Oh! You were close on that one.)" They said, muffled through the mask, "(Just keep adjusting your aim and I'm sure you'll get it soon enough.)"

"Think so Pyro?" Savannah asked.

"(Of course! Everyone gets better with just a little bit of practice!)" Pyro exclaimed patting the girl on the shoulder, "(Although I think our Pyrovision might affect this…)"

"Is there some way to control it?" Savannah questioned.

"(Not really,)" the firebug explained, "(It just kind'a happens at random, mostly in battle, but I certainly have no control over it...What about you?)"

"Well, in the game, Pyrovision is just an accessory that we can take off if we want." Savannah replied.

The two continued to converse through the sunset as everyone went inside to have dinner. Since Engie was back, and it was finally peaceful, he decided that it would be a good idea to make a barbeque dinner for all his old and new friends.

"Hey Pyro, Can I ask you something?" Savannah said as she helped them put the dishes away after dinner.

"(What is it Savannah?)"

"Ummm….c-can… I see what you look like?" The girl asked.

There was a silence between the two of them; finally Pyro spoke up a bit quietly.

"(Come outside with me,)" They simply said

Savannah followed Pyro outdoors, making sure that there was nobody following them. When the coast was clear, Pyro slowly began to take of there mask.

Savannah was quiet, taking in what was going on. After a while Pyro put the mask on and they walked back inside.

As everyone went to bed, they worried of what the new day would bring them. Would it be another day of silence and no attacks whatsoever? Or would Gray finally unleash an attack?


	9. Grey's New Robot

Chapter 9: Gray's New Robot

The next day Soldier could still be found at his post, watching for any carrier tanks that may hold Grey's robots.

"You're still up there Solly?" Savannah asked from the ground.

"Yes, and for the last time stop calling me 'Solly'! It's too close to 'Sally'" Solider shouted back down to her.

"This is coming from the guy who calls himself 'Jane Doe'." Dream said coming up next to Savannah, "The same name that's used on an unidentified female body."

"I don't really think he cares about that Frau Dream." Medic replied, petting Archimedes who was perched on his shoulder. "All we know is that there will be no-"

"Robot attack!" Soldier shouted pointing to the distance.

This caught everyone's attention. The group looked in the distance and soon found that there was a tank rolling in.

"Ugh! It's about damn time that coward showed up!" Savannah exclaimed transforming. The other girls did the same and got into position. For a while they started to attack the tank, hitting it with almost everything they had, when Dream noticed something.

"Hold on," She exclaimed in her now full German accent, "Why are there no other robots trying to stop us?"

The others then pondered this point and stopped attacking, causing the tank to stop as well. They all looked in wonder as the tank's front opened up, to reveal a medium sized screen with Grey's face on it.

"Hello mercenaries." He said smirking.

"What are you up to Grey?" Spy asked stepping forward, "Why did you only send one tank to us?"

"Oh I didn't just send a tank to you mercenaries; there's a little surprise hidden inside." Gray explained, his grin never leaving his face.

"Oh joy!" Stella remarked sarcastically, clapping her hands, "Is it a pony? Oh, I've always wanted a pony with a bright pink and sparkling mane!" Savannah could be heard laughing like a maniac in the background as she finished.

"Your sarcastic remark has been noted and ignored you monster of a woman." Gray replied without skipping a beat.

"Hey it wasn't my fault your daughter decided to put herself in danger!"

Savannah made an inaudible remark, most likely one of agreement to Stella's statement, followed by flipping off to the monitor.

"Regardless, allow me to introduce my latest weapon to you." Gray said ignoring Savannah and smiling even wider, "Ladies and gentleman, I present to you, my new robot warrior, Batter!"

The tank's front opened to reveal the new robot, and as Batter walked out, everyone burst out laughing.

He was similar to the other Scout-bots, except for how he looked like a Satyr. Batter's eyes where glowing gold, and he was also able to emote better than the other robots. Small black horns were on his head, coming out of a white metal hat. His torso was jet black, a gold scout emblem with a slash though it on his chest, as well as on his shoulders. Batter's abdomen was like the other Scout-bots, skeletal like, resembling ribs. He had goat-like legs with big black hooves at the ends. Batter's hands where similar to the other Scout-bots, a thumb and two fingers.

"That's ya' new weapon!?" Scout asked from the ground, having fallen over from laughing so hard.

"It looks so silly!" Heavy shouted, also laughing just as hard but still standing

"I can't breathe!" Catie shouted collapsing onto the ground too, her helmet falling onto the ground. "Dream, Dream help me!"

"I can't!" Dream replied, "I'm laughing too hard!"

"**Yeah, yeah, laugh it up."** Batter said stretching his arms to the side, **"You won't be laughin' so hard once I beat your skulls in."**

Managing to catch her breath, Stella walked up to the rediculously designed robot.

"Alroight, goat bot." She said smiling and holding her arms out. "Go ahead an' hit me!"

Without hesitating, Batter crouched down and reared back on his hands, kicking out with his hoofed legs into Stella's stomach, sending her flying back into a wall about 20 yards away. The blow somehow did not kill her as she shakily tried to sit up.

"G-g-get-t-t…. h-h-him-m-m…." She managed to stutter from the ground before passing out.

"Attack!" Soldier shouted before firing a rocket at Batter.

The attacks soon proved futile as Batter simply out ran everything. At times he even appeared faster than Scout himself. Batter dogged rockets and bullets with eases, bending his body in ways that seemed imposable for a robot.

If Batter got close enough to anyone, he would put his head down and headbutt them, impaling them with the horns on his head. If that didn't work he would simply rely on punches and kicks, at one point pulling out a pistol and shooting from a long range.

"Fall back!" Engineer shouted. Nothing was working and he didn't want anyone else to get hurt. Everyone started to run away from the Satyr robot, even Soldier. As the group retreated, Batter could be heard laughing and taunting them, saying how 'he told them so'.

Sniper suddenly stopped and turned back "Wait! What about Stella?" Sniper asked, realizing that they left her behind.

"Stella's as good as dead! We have to retreat and plan a counter attack!" Solider replied pulling Snipers arm.

Back at the tank's location, Stella was starting to stir, not realizing that her friends had left her behind.

"Where the bloody hell is everyone?" She quietly asked herself. She had no time to think over her situation as the sound of hoof steps snapped her out of her groggy state. In a panic, Stella ran as fast as she could away from the base. She kept running until she reached the outside edge of Teufort.

"Jeez, I didn' know I 'ad that much stamina." She said to herself as she began walking around the town.

As she was walking around, Stella noticed that people where occasionally staring at her get up. Stella quickly ducked into an alleyway. _I should probably lay low for a while_ She thought to herself. Stella then began fiddling with her medallion, hoping to transform back. When nothing happened she sank down on the wall and simply began thinking.

((((LINEBREAK))))

_Teaufort Base_

Everyone was stumped, Stella was missing, Grey's new robot was a monster to fight, and no one knew what to do.

"You don't think Gray would kidnap her do you?" Demo asked after taking a shot of alcohol to calm himself. He had a high tolerance anyway.

"If 'e did, then he's going to get a specially made bullet fired from my rifle." Sniper growled.

"You're soundin' awfully protective of the girl Sniper." Engie said, "Why's that?"

"Maybe it's 'cause he's got a crush on her..." Savannah said jokingly, slumping down in her seat and looking depressed.

"Say that again and you'll be getting' one too." Sniper snapped to her. Savannah smirked to herself at how easily Sniper gave away his emotions.

"Maybe it's because the bushman sees her as a daughter." Spy said as he walked up behind Sniper's chair. Sniper was quiet as he slowly got up from his chair. He suddenly turned around and punched Spy in his jaw.

"What th' hell?!" Scout shouted.

"Why Sniper do this?" Heavy asked.

There was silence as Sniper walked out of the room. When his foot steps could no longer be heard, Dream spoke up.

"I think Spy was right." She said.

The group got up and left the room. They followed Sniper as he walked back to the battlefield. He just stood there for a while. Suddenly, Sniper turned and bent over to pick up the Koala plush that was part of Stella's uniform.

"Isn't that her doll?" Scout said walking up to Sniper.

"So that means she was either blow to smithereens or she was kidnapped." Soldier said. Sniper flinched at the suggestion.

"Try being positive Soldier." Engie replied walking up to him, "She could have escaped into town."

"I vote that she escaped." Dream said worriedly.

"In that case, we should try looking around Teufort and see if we can find her." Spy proposed.

Everyone then split up in the town and started to look for their missing friend. However no matter where they looked, they couldn't find any sign of the girl who had disappeared on them.

"C'mon! She couldn't have gotten far." Savannah exclaimed.

"Maybe Archimedes could help?" Catie asked as she pointed to the bird that was still perched on the Medic's shoulder. Everyone then turned to look at the small, blood spattered dove that was preening himself with his beak.

"How is that bird gonna' help us?" Scout asked.

"'Bird's Eye View'?" Catie attempted to explain.

"_Da_, but I still do not understand what this has to do with Doctor's bird." Heavy stated.

"I think I understand." Savannah said clapping her hands together, "Archimedes can fly up into the air and look for her from the sky while we keep looking on the ground."

"Oh! I get it!" Demoman replied, "Let's give it a shot!" Everyone agreed and then looked to Medic.

"Alright." He said letting Archimedes hop onto his finger and off his shoulder. "Archimedes, will you help us with this task? We need you to find our friend. Got it?"

Archimedes flapped his wings in understanding at what his adopted father had told him.

"Good boy. Now go find our friend!" Medic said holding his arm up and letting Archimedes fly.

To the surprise of everyone, instead of flying deeper into town, Archimedes did a u-turn and flew back towards the base, leaving everyone shouting at him to turn around. What they didn't know was that the mischievous dove was going back to get some assistance in his bird's eye search.

As Archimedes arrived at the base he flew into an open window, going to the rec-room where the other mercenaries birds where.

"_(Thank Gott I found you!)"_ Archimedes said while landing. Despite all animals being able to speak the same language, Archimedes has his father's accent.

"_(What is wrong Archi?)"_ Sonja, Heavy's bird asked him. The tiny robin as perched next to Aberdeen, Demoman's parrot.

"_(We need to go search for someone!)"_ The dove explained frantically. He was hopping up and down in a small panic now.

"_(Is one of our masters missing?)"_ Sir Hootsalot asked. The owl flew down from the perching stick to talk batter.

"_(Sort of. Vater explained that she is missing somewhere in town and we need to search for her, and fast)!"_ Archimedes explained.

"_(Well what are we waiting for?!)"_ Aberdeen squawked, _"(Let's bloody go!)"_

The birds nodded and took off through the window towards Teufort, keeping an eye out for the missing woman.

"_(Wait, what is she wearing again?)"_ Sonja asked. The tiny red robin was flapping her small wings as hard as she could to keep up with everyone.

"_(A purple uniform, like Sir's master!)"_ Archimedes replied. Sir Hootsalot's eyes widen and he flew ahead at a fast pace.

"_(Down there!)"_ Sir Hootsalot yelled flying down to the woman in the alleyway.

"_(Aye, ha ha ha! That's her!)"_ Aberdeen said following the owl down.

Stella was on the ground burying her face in her knees wondering why she couldn't transform back. Her moping was disturbed by the sound of birds. _Huh? _She looked up to see all of the mercenary's birds flying down to her.

They perched on various places around her, Sir Hootsalot on her shoulder. The birds made noises to get her attention, pulling on her clothes lightly.

"Hey," She said quietly scratching Sir Hootsalot on the chest, "How'd you guys find me?"

The birds then took off and flew once around Stella before heading back to their masters.

"Wait! Where are you going!? Don't leave me!" She shouted following the birds.

"_(Is she following us?)"_ Sonja asked.

Archimedes quickly looked back to check.

"_(Ja! She's following us!)"_ He replied turning back around and flying a bit faster. Soon all the birds went back to their masters, surprising all of them.

"Archimedes! There you are!" Medic said as the dove landed on his shoulder, "Why did you get your friends?"

Sir Hootsalot took off from Snipers head and landed on Stella's shoulder as she ran up to the group, having finally caught up with the birds.

"Stella!" The girls said as they ran over and hugged her, squeezing to the point that she couldn't breath.

"Too tight! Too tight!" She gasped attempting to hug back. Catie and Dream let her go, Savannah a second later.

"I believe this belongs to you." Sniper said walking up and giving her the koala plush back. The second she put it back into her pouch, she finally transformed back.

"Thanks you...but I think I should be thanking the birds. They were the ones who found me." Stella said patting Sir Hootsalot on the head.

"Really now?" Medic asked smiling and looking at Archimedes. "Good boy Archimedes! I'm so proud of you!" He cooed to his bird. Archimedes snuggled into the crook of Medic's neck.

"Heavy is proud of Red Sonja!" Heavy exclaimed as he gently pet his tiny robin. As the other owners thanked their birds, Spy walked up to Stella with a grim look on his face.

"While I am also happy that you are back, we still have the issue of Batter." He said solemnly. Stella's happy expression faded and she put on a more serious one.

"Have you guys planned anything for a counter attack?" She asked him.

Spy sighed. He could not answer her.


	10. 3 Strikes- Batter Out!

Chapter 10: 3 Strikes- Batter Out!

It seemed that the pets refused to leave their masters as the group of fighters began to think of a plan to defeat Batter, trying to find any week points the monster robot may have from the pictures and video the security cameras had captured.

"He's much faster than any of the other Scout robots." Spy noted looking at the screen, "Almost faster than you Scout."

"And we missed every shot we took at him." Stella said from her chair at the table.

"Can we do anything to this damn robot?" Savannah asked angrily. "I couldn't catch up to him; I couldn't sneak up to him; I couldn't do anything! It's pissing me off that I couldn't help!"

"There's got to be flaw..." Catie stated

Engineer stared at the screen, lost his own little world, studying every detail he could. He suddenly gasped and smiled, finally figuring something out.

"Y'see the frame of the robot?" He asked pointing to Batters abdomen.

"What about it?" Demoman asked.

"In order for a robot to be as flexible as this robot is, the metal and frame work must be at certain strength or else bend and snap in two." Engineer explained, his voice having traces of excitement.

"Why do you explain this to us?" Heavy asked crossing his arms.

"**I think I know what you are getting at."** Hartlieb said rolling up to the table, **"If we concentrate hard blows in certain areas, we could immobilize Batter."** Savannah helped him onto the table so he could get a better look.

"Exactly!" Engineer took a marker and began circling a few areas on a picture of Batter: his abdomen, shoulder joints, and upper thigh joints.

"But how are we going to get Batter to stand still?" Medic asked.

"Doc's got a point," Sniper stated coming up next to Medic, "With th' energy he's got, there's no way that twitchy hooligan is goin' to stay in one place."

This left everyone stumped. Batter was too fast and too flexible to trap, and with out a good distraction, they were screwed. The room fell into silence, everyone having an almost hopeless expression.

Dream furrowed her eyebrows in thought. Batter was so much like Scout, but better. _Batter is… like Scout. Batter is like Scout. THAT'S IT._ She thought.

"I think it's about time this war has had a bit of a woman's touch to it." Dream said looking over to her friends, "That robot still has Scout's mindset, which means that he'll have girls on the brain." The idea was out and Engineer got it instantly.

"I think I know what you gettin' at and I like it. I'm gonna' need help though…" He let the sentence trail off.

"Count me in 'cause I love the idea!" Savannah chimed digging into her bag for her pencil and sketch book; "Stella, Catie, go with Scout and figure out what he likes in a girl!" she instructed getting up from her chair and walking to Engineer.

"Yes ma'am!" Catie replied saluting.

"You can count on us!" Stella added dragging Scout by the arm to another room with Catie.

For the rest of the day the team worked on their counter robot. The design was finalized, and the robot built, painted, and programmed from the notes Stella and Catie took. The final problem was the new robots power source.

"Ya got any ideas?" Engie asked.

"Do you know anything about solar power?"Savannah replied after a pause.

Thus, primitive solar panels were constructed. But the robot had yet to be named. As it sat on the work bench, hooked up to computers for programming, a name was finally chosen.

"Brooklyn" Scout said suddenly at one point. It stuck after that.

((LINEBREAK))

_The next day._

Now was the time to test Brooklyn. They took her outside to soak up the desert sun for power. Hartlieb rolled by and took a look at Brooklyn; a happy expression coming to his metallic face.

"**She's so beautiful."** He said softly; rolling a bit closer.

"I'm glad you think so lil' buddy." Engineer said, "Let's just hope Batter thinks the same as well once she's powered up."

There was a beep and Brooklyn's eyes lit up a light blue. She slowly looked around, silent.

"Good morning darling." Engie said in a friendly tone, as not to scare Brooklyn, "Welcome to the world."

Brooklyn continued to look around silently. After a moment she began looking at herself. They had adapted what Scout liked physically in a girl to more suit a robot satyr. She was mostly pink and white, with grays and light blues mixed in. She has horns, bent in the slight shape of a heart. Pink wires made up her 'hair'. She was very 'womanly' shaped, much to Scout's embarrassment. She was wearing a skirt, made of strong fibers, and had goat like legs.

All in the hopes of getting Batter to 'stay the fuck still', as Savannah had put it when the design was revealed.

"Can she not talk or somethin'?" Scout asked impatiently

"She's still gettin' used to what's goin' on, give her a minute." Engineer explained.

"We might not have time!" Demo said taking out his grenade launcher, "Look who's coming!"

Everyone then looked to see that Batter was running towards them to serve another beating.

"Keep him busy while Brooklyn gets used to her surroundings!" Stella said transforming,

The attack ensued; but just as before, Batter out ran and dodged everything, laughing and spewing insults the whole way.

"**Are you guys even trying to hit me!?"** Batter taunted. **"You losers couldn't hit even th' broad side of a damn barn-"**

Batter suddenly stopped. The attack did to as his pause was so unexpected. Batter stared off to the side a smiled.

"**Well, hello there beautiful~" **He said, sauntering up to the now awake Brooklyn.

It actually worked. No one could believe that is had actually worked. Brooklyn was standing with her hands behind her back, staring curiously at Batter. He walked up to her and smirked.

"**What's a pretty face like you doin' in a place like this? Why don'cha come back with me to my place" **He said suggestively.

As Batter attempted to grab Brooklyn's hand she slapped him across the face and he stumbled a bit.

"**Don't touch me!" **She shouted in anger. Batter stood stunned. That little… _bitch _… had…not on his watch.

"**You little whore!" **Batter screamed in anger. Pulling out a pistol, Batter began trying to shoot at Brooklyn. She screamed and ran as fast as she could to a safer location. With his target of anger gone, Batter turned to the group of fighters with an evil look.

"**I'm pissed. And you're the only ones here now."** He said darkly. The plan had failed.

"Furrk (Fuck)" Could be heard from Pyro as Batter charged the group.

_One painful beating later_

The group returned to the base, bloody and bruised. At some point they began arguing over the defeat and Scout seemed to get the most of it because of his taste in girls. He eventually snapped and yelled at everyone.

"It ain't my fault that I like what I like!" He screamed storming away to his room to blow off steam.

"It wasn't Scout's fault. It was our fault for not thinking that Batter might a different taste." Catie said.

"It dose not matter whose fault it is; we can always recover..." Medic said, "Although Dream and I might have a lot of work on our hands." He muttered to himself.

As Brooklyn was listening in on the conversation, she began to feel guilty. She felt as if her creation was a mistake now, because she couldn't help. She looked to Hartlieb who was beside her.

"**If they were trying to destroy that robot, then why are they letting us live?"** She asked him, still looking guilty.

"**It's because we're helping them."** He explained, his voice sounding more confident than when he would talk to the mercenaries.

"**I see..."** Brooklyn said, **"Could you excuse me for a minute? I think I need some time to… recharge..."**

"**Alright, just be careful."** He replied rolling away to find Savannah.

Brooklyn stepped outside and looked at sunset, wondering what she was going to do.

_I really want to help my creators...but I just don't know how..._ She thought to herself, sighing. **"….What am I going to do?"** she said aloud. She continued to walk around, thinking to herself. She felt like a mistake. A failure. And it tore at her circuits that she had a purpose that she couldn't fulfill.

She continued in silence when a voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

"**I can think of something you could do."** A Spy-bot's voice said as he declocked behind Brooklyn, scaring her, **"You could forget about them and come work for Grey Mann."**

Brooklyn started to back away from the robot wanting to scream for help but she found that she couldn't.

"**St-stay away from me! I'll get my creators!"** She ended up stuttering. She turned and ran away form the Spy-bot and it gave chase. As Brooklyn tried to hide, the Spy-bot popped up and she ran again, only for the same thing to happen, over and over. After a few minutes of the cat and mouse game, the Spy-bot trapped her into a corner.

A lone Scout-bot ran up **"What are those failures going to do? You saw how they were against my big brother." **The Scout-bot taunted walking closer. **"Now let's make some sparks fly!" **It pointed the scattergun he was holding at her.

"**Get away from me!" **Brooklyn shrieked. She kicked out and smashed the head off of the Scout-bot, doing the same to the Spy-bot while it was distracted.

The mercenaries immediately ran out when they heard the robot screaming. Their eyes widened as they saw Brooklyn standing in the remains of the two robots, which had been dismantled and the parts strewn around all over. She was currently using the Scout-bots arm to smash its chest cavity.

"Holy Dooley..." Sniper exclaimed causing Brooklyn to stop and realize what she was doing.

"**O-oh my gosh! I-I'm so sorry!"** She said, **"I didn't mean to-"**

"It is alright." Heavy interrupted.

"**What?"** Brooklyn said confused.

"This could actually be helpful." Spy realized.

"**Really? I can actually do something?" She said hopefully.**

"Yeah...and I think I know how." Engineer added.

_The next day _

Batter ran up to the fort to serve another beating, feeling incredibly confident from his last two wins. Stopping near the base, he slowly waltzed over. He expected a barrage a bullets and rockets, only to find that everyone was ignoring him.

"**What, you wimps finally give up?"** He asked.

"Negative." Soldier replied loading his rocket launcher, "We're just waiting for Private Brooklyn to arrive."

"**Brooklyn? You mean that little bitch that slapped me!? You expect that wimp to beat me? HA, she's useless!"** Batter yelled.

"Tell that to your little brother here..." Savannah said rolling the Scout-bot's head to him by kicking it. Batter paused as the head hit his hoof. He looked up suspiciously at the group.

"**Don't make me laugh; it was one of you guys." **He said warily.

All while Batter was distracted, Brooklyn was sneaking up behind him. Once she had a clear shot, she reared back on her hands and kicked out with both hoofed legs into Batters spinal shaft, completely cutting his body in two and sending both halves flying a few feet away.

"**AAHHHHUUGGGG!" **Batter let out a blood curdling metallic screech from the excruciating pain coursing through his circuits.

Batters legs twitched as his torso sparked and leaked oil. He tried getting up with his hands only for it to prove too difficult. He pushed him self on his back, groaning from the pain, and laid there.

"**You where saying?"** Brooklyn taunted, preparing for another strike.

"That's all Brooklyn; we will take it from here." Spy said walking up to the now immobilized robot with a cruel grin.

The other mercenaries mirrored Spy's expression, making Batter terrified. They proceeded to tear the rest of Batter apart. He started out screaming in pain, but he strangely stopped after a moment. When the team was done only Batters head was left intact.

"**Oh this ain't good."** He said to himself.

Catie held up Batters head as Scout went of a few yards away, holding his sandman bat.

"**Wait, what are you doing!?" **Batter said from Caties hands. Scout got into a batting position.

"Bottom of the 9th, bases loaded, 2 strikes, tied game," Savannah narrated "Can he do it!?"

"**Wait! Nononono!"** Batter shouted as he realized what was happening.

Too late. As Catie pitched the screaming head, Scout pointed to the sky, winded up, and swung, sending the head soaring through the air and into the horizon.

"HOMERUN!" Savannah shouted "RED SOX WIN!"

Everyone cheered at their victory and went off to celebrate.

_Grey's base_

A group of Scout-bots brought Batters disembodied head into Grays' office and explained how Batter had finally failed.

"I had a feeling it would happen sooner or later. No matter; repair him and prepare him for the next attack." Gray commanded.

"**No offense boss, but I ain't going back out there alone. I actually had to turn off my pain sensors because it hurt so much!"** Batter exclaimed.

"That's why I'm sending Sergeant with you." Gray replied, "At least with his structure he won't fall apart as easily as you."

"**I take offense to that!"**

"What are you going to do about it?"

"…**I hate you."**

"Hahahah!"


	11. Hiatus Anouncmet (Important)

**ANNOUNCEMENT**

Hello readers! Mod Savannah here with a big announcement.

A little back-story: when Mod Stella and I started this project, it was only for fun and to test our writing and story telling skills. So far it has been a good and fun experience.

Well, life as blind-sided us and this project grew quite big pretty fast. We have a LOT planned for this story. There are a lot of things still in the works when is comes to writing, editing, and characters.

Basically? **We have to go on hiatus for a little while**. We don't know when exactly we'll be back (we're aiming for the end of spring/ beginning of summer time frame) but we will be back, and we WILL be working on a lot of things while gone!

_But Savannah; why will you and Stella be taking so long? The beginning of summer is, like, 3 months away!_

I have school and chores and Stella has work. I can only work on the weekends (or in-between classes) and Stella's schedule changes. And, like I said, a lot of things are in the works right now and we need time to actually work on them.

_Can you at least tell us what you're working on?_

Nope! Sorry, but that is a surprise! I can tell you that we will be writing the chapters, so don't worry!

If you have any more questions, send us a PM and we will be happy to answer.

Thank you all for your patience, thank you for reading our story, and thank you for the reviews and criticism (both good and bad)!

~Mod Savannah and Mod Stella

"Thank you!" All the characters of Purple Lightning shout

"No, really, thanks! We wouldn't be this far in without ya!" Scout shouts "We'd also kinda be nonexistent." The rest of the cast now looks horrified.


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